For the Love of Family
by SCLindseySC
Summary: What if the Quartermaine family actually lived the family values they pretend to when criticizing others? This alters Port Charles history significantly but there is truly love in family. Monica&Alan, EmPat, AJKeesha, Brenda&Cruz Repairing Jarly & Sexis
1. Background & Premises

For the Love of Family

_Imagine a General Hospital where the Quartermaine family strongly value and cherish each other. Fidelity, integrity, compassion and kindness are core values. Although they have struggled somehow they manage to love, communicate, support and persevere. So how would things be different?_

**Meet the Quartermaines:**

Edward Quartermaine-Family patriarch, and devoted husband to Liza (now deceased). He owns ELQ Enterprises and can be shrewd but fair in the business world but is soft hearted when it comes to his family. Liza was his high school sweetheart and he took the words in sickness and in health to death do us part quite seriously. (Hence his affairs with MaryMae Ward, Heather Webber, and Beatrice LeSeur never happened and Bradley Ward and Jimmy Lee Hogan are not his children).

Lila Quartermaine-Deceased 2 years ago. Family matriarch. Artist. Green Thumb and Philanthropist.

---Tracey Quartermaine JD-59-Eldest child of Edward & Lila. Strong willed, independent, but compassionate. Originally married to Lord Larry Ashton but their marriage ended on the grounds of his adultery which Tracy discovered shortly after the birth of their first child. Devastated Tracy fled home to her parents who initially supported her but then challenged her to get on with her life. Regrouping she attended law school (at PCU so Lila could help out with young Ned). Edward anticipated that she would pursue corporate law perhaps even become pro counsel for ELQ however, she surprised them all (and perhaps herself as well) by clerking with a family court judge and ultimately working as pro counsel for DSS in her early years. Currently she sits the bench as a district Family Court Judge. She has now remarried to Dr. Ryan Graber MD Phd (Psychiatrist) and they have two children

-----Edward "Ned" Ashton (39)

---------Brooke-Lynne Ashton (12) Ned's daughter with estranged wife Lois Cerullo (who in this version was never partners in L&B with Brenda Barrett but was friends with Brenda)

-----Dylan James -19 College student at PCU/ In a Band with Kirk Quartermaine

-----Shannon Lila-16

---Alan Quartermaine MD-55-Eldest son of Edward & Liza. General/Trauma Surgeon at General Hospital. Like his father he has been faithful to his wife Dr. Monica Bard Baldwin-Quartermaine 52 (who has also been faithful to Alan so the whole AJ parentage melodrama with Rick Webber never took place. Additionally Monica never slept with her adoptive mother's second husband or was married to Jeff Webber (they did date during medical school but never had sexual relations). She's an interventional cardiologist at General Hospital. Alan is still alive as all the stress he avoided by not having multiple affairs, narcotic addictions, or dealing with his wife's affairs (as they didn't happen) have allowed him to have a much healthier heart.

-----Alan James "AJ" Quartermaine-31-Avoided the whole alcohol misadventures and multiple failed marriages. He currently teaches 3rd grade at Kendall Park Elementary and has been married to kindergarten teacher Keesha Ward for 3 years. Keesha lost a baby 6 months ago after being assaulted by Lucky Spencer in a drugged out rage. Now she has just learned she is pregnant again but is afraid to admit this to even husband AJ.

-----Allison Claire Quartermaine-24-(deceased from Lymphoma 5 years ago)

-----Emily Bowen-Quartermaine-23-Alan & Monica adopted her after the death of her mother (Paige Bowen). Although it was a rough adjustment period she formed a special bond with the Quartermaines and survived the traumas of high school with her sister Alli and close friends Elizabeth Webber, Sarah Webber, Lucky Spencer, Nicholas Cassadine . She avoided the drug issues and neither Juan nor Xander are part of her past. She did make a fool of herself somewhat crushing on Nicholas Cassadine but ultimately moved on with her life. She was inspired to follow her adoptive parents into medicine but opted to attend the 6 year BS/MD program at Columbia (where she meets and dates Dr. Patrick Drake) instead of PCU. Although benefiting from being able to pursue her MD on her terms without feeling like she was getting favoritism as she she is the Chief of Staff's daughter Emily truly misses her family and the Pediatrics residency at GH is at the top of her rank list. General Hospital will also gain a talented neurosurgeon in her fiance Dr. Patrick Drake.

------Kirk Edgar Quartermaine-19-Alan & Monica's younger son. Sophomore at PCU and member of Choosen Few with cousin Dylan Grabler. Dating Hannah Roberts a freshman at PCU.

-----Katelyn Jane Quartermaine-13-Alan & Monica's daughter. Had a rocky infancy as Monica battled breast cancer and the family adapted to Emily. Swims competitively and looks up to her older siblings.

-----Nicole Margaret Quartermaine-5-Alan & Monica's unexpected miracle. Monica realized she was pregnant in bittersweet fashion shortly after Allison's death. Swims, loves soccer, and Tigger.

---John Bard Quartermaine-46-Acting Police Chief PC PD. Returns to Port Charles on a FBI special assignment task force in January 2007. Brings wife Abigail Daniels-40- an attorney who takes a job as an Assistant DA

-----Adam Daniel Quartermaine-16

-----Riley Joseph Quartermaine-13

**How Does this Alter Others?:**

-Much of the Luke Spencer/ Frank Smith / Cassadine/Sonny Corinthos storyline is unchanged.

-Jason Morgan (33) is a nephew/cousin of the Quartermaines (his father was Lila's brother's child) and arrived in town trying to find his way disillusioned by the drunk driving accident that killed his parents and the corrupt legal system that covered up the truth. The Quartermaines attempt to bring him back to the fold and argue that his pairing with Sonny Corinthos is ironic. Depressed/lost Jason disagrees and builds a new life with Sonny and Robin (who at various times extolls the Quartermaines) and it all downhill from there. Additionally Keesha Ward was Jason's girlfriend for several years before his accident. Although she detests the man Jason has become she remembers who Jason was before and continually encourages her husband to reach out to his cousin.

-Although AJ and Carly never had a drunken one night stand "Michael" does exist and is the child of Caroline Benson and Taggert which actually led to more melodrama as Sonny and Taggert fought over the child.

-Luke Spencer never had the opportunity to marry Tracey Quartermaine for his financial gain although they do meet when his daughter is charged with criminal mischief and possession and ends up in Tracey's courtroom. [Lulu is 16 in this version which I think is actually the age she should be based on when her character was introduced

-Georgie Jones (17) is dating Dylan Quartermaine but they were never married. She doesn't realize that Lulu Spencer is trying unsuccessfully to seduce her boyfriend. Lulu and Dylan never slept together although Lulu wishes. Look for an alliance between Maxie Jones and Lulu in the future. None of the Diego stalker story line happened as Mary Bishop's character doesn't exist because Nikolas and Emily were never married.

-Maxie Jones (20) has issues galore. Does she actually love anyone in her family or is she still so bitter from her abandonment by Felicia years ago? Felicia somehow returned to Texas without her children leaving them in stepfather Mac Scorpio's ever capable hands.

-Lucky Spencer (26) was Alli & Emily's childhood friend (although he is a few years older) but his recent drug addiction/adultery with Maxie Jones has led her to support her friend's efforts to end their marriage. However at the last minute Lucky promised to break things off with Maxie and Liz gave him another chance because of their son. Additionally in a drugged out rage Lucky recently assaulted Emily's sister in law so she is very uncomfortable that Liz continues to live with him.

-Robin Scorpio's (30--31 in June ) life is largely unaltered (although she attended medical school in the USA not France) and she is currently an internist/neurologist at GH. She never met Dr. Noah Drake in a bar. Although she does know his son from her medical school days and was not favorably impressed.

-Dr. Noah Drake started his early career at General Hospital and was involved with Bobbie Spencer RN and several other nurses. Ultimately he took a new position in Atlanta where he met his wife Matticia and they had a child Patrick. Devastated when he was unable to save his wife he turned to alcohol and his teenage son essentially raised himself. The senior doctor Drake's life hits rock bottom when he realizes he is unable to perform an important case due to his alcoholism. At that point he checks into a rehab facility and puts his life back together. As a previously impaired physician he will require a practice plan / sponsoring physician to continue to practice. After much soul searching he will ask Alan Quartermaine to be that person. Alan is in a difficult position as his daughter is recently engaged to Noah's son and he knows that they are planning to return to Port Charles if she matches in Pediatrics. Ultimately, after discussion with Monica, Alan decides to sponsor Noah and he and Monica are optimistic that they can help Noah and Patrick reconcile.

-Brenda Barrett (29--30 in June)Daughter of corporate mogul--Harlan Barrett, who was largely uninvolved in her life. They had a falling out (mostly related to his new wife's jealousy of his daughter) and he cut her off financially half way through her freshman year at PCU. Coincidentally this was at the same time that the Quartermaines had just fired truly psychotic nanny Tara Kincaid. Brenda applied for the job in desperation and became somewhat adopted into the family. She completed a BS in psychology at PCU but has been working as model most recently. She has had relationships with Sonny (initially prior to meeting the Quartermaines), AJ (during both of their college days), Jason Morgan and Jax. Edward Quartermaine has self appointed himself into the grandfather role in her life and was quite happy when she was dating AJ however, they realized they did better as friends, moved on and he started dating Keesha Ward who has become one of Brenda's closest friends. Jax revealed his true inner evil when he humiliated her on her wedding day by refusing to marry her in front of all of their guests. When she dated Jason, Edward hoped she would bring him back to a respectable life but their relationship ended. Other close friends: Emily Quartermaine (perhaps more like a sister and in a way Alli and Emily perhaps were more adept at being Katelyn's nanny than Brenda and they both helped her out a lot--a definite friendship formed). Robin Scorpio (connection through dating Stone & Sonny initially led to friendship), Lois Cerullo (connected through her friendship with Lois' husband and the fact that Lois one of Sonny's oldest and dearest friends), and of course Sonny & Jason.

**Major storyline departures:**

-Brenda's mother is uninvolved in her life or this story. She never was driven off a cliff or held captive by Luis Alcazar. She did however meet Luis Alcazar through her friend Lois Cerullo who had a romantic relationship with him during her years in Bensonhurst.

-Although Brenda & Lois are friends Brenda never was Lois' partner in L&B. Lois did name Brenda & Sonny Brooke's godparents (mostly because they were an item at the time of Brooke's christening)

-Alcazar did kill Kristina Cassidine and attempted to kill Sonny although unsuccessfully [in 1999 not 2002. His actions were much more business motivated. Although his infatuation with Brenda and his past with Lois will be revealed eventually and it won't be pretty when Sonny realizes that.

-Scott Baldwin never killed Rick Weber either and although the love triangle with him and Laura and Luke all happened Laura was the actual killer and it was in self defense. Scott's new and improved persona that came back to Port Charles looking for his daughter never left and he's had his share of heartbreak losing oldest daughter Karen in 2003 but has mostly managed to keep his head above water raising daughter Serena Baldwin (15). Current DA and on hospital board. Additionally as Monica's relationship with her adoptive parents Gail & Lee Baldwin is much stronger there is a noted cousin relationship between Serena and Kirk and Katelyn.

-Elizabeth Weber Spencer-Elizabeth felt like an outcast in her own family and fled to Port Charles to live with her Grams. She befriended Emily & Alli Quartermaine, Lucky Spencer, & Nikolas Cassidine. Once with dreams of being artist reality hit the road and she completed a nursing degree at PCU and started working at PCGH. She and Lucky Spencer were high school sweethearts and Cameron is their son. (She and Emily both missed out on the Zander triangle) Currently she's struggling with supporting but not enabling her husband as he deals with his demons and drug addiction.

**What didn't happen:**

-Monica & Alan's multiple affairs

-Alan & Lucy Coe's marriage

-Ned was married to Jenny Eckert for a few months in 1993. Jenny was really in love with Paul Hornsby all along and they eventually got together. Conveniently there was never a relationship between Paul & Tracy. Jenny also was never hit by a car.

-Tracy's marriages to Mitch Williams, Paul Hornsby, and Gino Solieto. She did remarry in 1985 to Dr. Ryan Grabler and they have two children Dylan Albert Grabler & Shannon Lila Grabler

-AJ's alcohol dependence and the AJ/Jason accident. However, Jason was involved in a car accident with his parents and suffered TBI

-Emily's drug issues

-Lucky Spencer was thought to be killed in the fire 05/99 and was held captive by Helena Cassidine. However he escaped and showed up at Emily Quartermaine's 16th birthday party 3-2-2000. The whole Helena mind control aspects didn't happen though.

-Emily's relationship with Juan Santiago or Zander Smith. Emily's marriages to Zander Smith or Nikolas Cassidine. The bus accident never happened because she was never running away with Zander. She did attend Columbia University where she did a BS-MD program. Juan Santiago was never SORASED he is the son of Lily Riverra-Corinthos & Miguel Morez he was born in 1988 and may potentially appear in later chapters.

-Brenda's death (and captivity by Luis Alcazar)

-Alexis Davis did kill Luis Alcazar but it was determined to be self defense so she was never charged. The whole DID storyline and relationship with Cameron Lewis never happened

-Liz'a relationships with Zander Smith and Ric Lansing. Lucky Spencer is Cameron's biological father. Jason and Liz did have a distant past friendship when she was still in high school before she married Lucky.

-The Dead Ted Storyline. Gia Campbell (Taggert's sister) does exist although sans blackmailing Emily Quartermaine. Gia returned to college 9/2003 to complete her bachelors. She graduated from PCU 5/2006 and started law school at Columbia 9/2006. She may return to Port Charles for practice upon graduation in 2009?

-All the vampire/angel arcs from the Port Charles series. Although other stuff happening to main characters during that time was preserved where possible. Yes Eve Lambert, Jack Ramsey, Julie Morris-Devlin, Christina Baldwin, and Karen Wexler-Cates are dead.

-The David Bordissio Storyline---Scott Baldwin is the biological son of Lee Baldwin and the late Meg Bentley Baldwin

-Emily's entire breast cancer storyline. I found the medical aspects of it very far-fetched and it was complicated because of the heavy involvement of both Nikolas and Zander in that storyline when she was in my version no longer involved with Nikolas and had never been involved with Zander.

-The Port Charles Hotel Fire it's still standing strong. (The Metro Court does exist but on a different location). Cameron Lewis does die 2-12-2004 though in a car accident.

-Skye Chandler's relationship to the Quartermaines does not exist. She is the daughter of Adam & (the late and schizophrenic)Althea Chandler. Ned and Skye were never romantically involved nor did she have corrupt dealings with Edward Quartermaine. She did meet Lee Baldwin at an AA meeting and had multiple flings with Luke Spencer, Jasper Jacks, and Luis Alcazar. Skye is dating Lorenzo Alcazar they do not have any children.

-The Emily/Nikolas/Mary Bishop saga & the Diego stalker storyline. Sage Alcazar is still alive and living with her uncle Lorenzo. She mourns the loss of her father and her cousin Diego. She has a crush on Dylan Quartermaine-Grabler and is on the cheering squad with Georgie Jones and Shannon Grabler who she is somewhat friendly enemies with. She aspires to a career in either music or modeling or both and sees Brenda Barrett, Lois Cerullo, and Kate Howard as role models.

-Lucas Jones has not yet come out to his parents about his sexual orientation.

-Emily & Sonny's relationship

-Emily is involved in the train crash storyline as she is on the same train back to Port Charles as Robin & Sam coming home for the weekend to surprise her parents. She's a 3rd year medical student at the time. Patrick hears about the story on the news and calls Alan with the bad news that Emily was on that train.

-The virus storyline did take place but without Emily or Patrick's involvement as they were both still in NYC at the time.

-Sam was framed by Lorenzo & Ric for the murder in 9/06 however events from there deviated from the show. At the time of the incident Sam & Jason were apart again (after a brief reconciliation in 5/06 around the time she was shot) and when Sam "escaped" police custody she went to Jason and begged him to help her. Jason bought into the situation initially and they went on the run and found computer hacker Spinelli. Not trusting the situation Sonny had Stan concurrently researching a possible Sam Ric connection which he found. He also learned that Sam is not Alexis' daughter. Sonny got word to Jason that Sam really was not to be trusted but Jason was somewhat trapped as Ric was claiming he had helped Sam escape custody and was aiding and abeting a fugitive. Although Sam had gone into the situation to get revenge on Jason for not taking her back she fell back in love with him while they were on the run and was desperate that Jason & Sonny didn't learn about her role in things. They were attempting to go to the cops with the information when they were ambushed in a warehouse on the docks. Sam shot Diego Alcazar in self defense and earned the wrath of Lorenzo Alcazar as killing his son was never part of the plan. She and Jason were cleared and she fled Port Charles afraid of Lorenzo's revenge. This laid the groundwork for a lot of Scott Baldwin's work to remove Ric Lansing and clean up the DA's office. Ric fled to Canada rather than face criminal charges. He supposedly was killed in Canada.

-The Metro Court Hostage situation played out much differently as Emily was still in medical school in NY, uninvolved, and her father was a much healthier man. Darren Malloy (who will later be revealed to be Jerry Jacks) instead killed two children. What is also not realized is that he has connections to Alcazar. Liz was not pregnant at the time however she was in attendance as her brother in law Nikolas Cassidine's date for evening. Sam was not involved as she had left PC in 11/06 after the Diego disaster. Additionally 3 was Logan Hayes (Cooper Barrett was involved in the incident as a cop)

-The Black & White Ball

-The Text Message Killer Idiocy


	2. Chapter 1: Match Day

For the Love of Family

Chapter 1: Match Day

Twenty three year old Emily Bowen Quartermaine sipped at her soft drink in the crowded New York City club. Her eyes kept scanning the entrance awaiting the arrival of her fiance Dr. Patrick Drake, a 33 year old neurosurgeon at Cornell's Weill Medical Center. She had already texted Patrick the good news that she had indeed matched at her top choice in Pediatrics at General Hospital in Port Charles, NY. She was excited about the opportunities as the hospital had a strong program in neonatology and their level three NICU was the regional referral center and had been the site of several recent research trials. Yet, honestly Emily was most excited to go "home". In two months she would graduate as Valedictorian of her Columbia Medical School class culminating a six year BS/MD program.

In those six years much had changed in her life. Somberly Emily reflected first on the losses, her older sister Alli's unsuccessful battle with Lymphoma, her sweet grandmother Lila's death. Her feelings of betrayal by former friend Lucky Spencer. In one sense as a medical student Emily could completely understand that Lucky's addiction was an illness yet at the same time Lucky's actions had taken the life of another old friend from high school and although she wanted to be supportive she refused to enable. Her thoughts were interrupted by two of her classmates Lecia Tatum and Maggie Donnely joining her at the bar.

"Girl wipe off that sad face! We are supposed to be celebrating!" Lecia screamed above the loud music.

"Seriously! We all matched at our top choices and you are not going to mope until Dr. Dorkman arrives thank you very much," Maggie continued.

"You know he hates it when you call him that!" Emily said giggling slightly.

"That's because he knows it is true!" Maggie retorted.

"He's not a dork, he's just a decent guy. Not all gorgeous doctors believe that the world is their oyster and that all women secretly want to sleep with them," Emily defended.

"Ok so he is gorgeous," Lecia admitted.

"Yes," Emily said giggling as a wistful dreamy smile crossed her face.

"Oh no! Now she's thinking about him, we'll never get her to go dance," Maggie quipped.

"I wasn't just thinking about him," Emily protested.

"So what else were you thinking about?" Lecia asked.

"Well uhh Patrick and how we met, I suppose..." Emily's voice trailed off slightly at the end.

"Grrrr, no offense Em but we are not going down memory lane. We are dancing!" Lecia said as she and Maggie both dragged their protesting classmate from her stool. Emily gave in and allowed them to drag her onto the dance floor yet as the danced she laughed at the irony of their perspectives on her fiance. The reality was that when they had first met almost four years ago Patrick had perhaps been the stereotypical, gorgeous, arrogant, surgeon. They had met at the gym when he had arrived in the city to take his first attending position at Cornell's Weill Medical Center. He had flirted and somewhat distractedly Emily had flirted back. She had just months earlier ended a long distance relationship with Nikolas Cassadine and had sworn she was going to throw herself into medical school and take a break from the dating scene altogether. Yet, somehow Emily agreed to a date which ended abruptly after she asked Patrick to take her home after she had watched him flirt mercilessly with three women at the bar while they waited for their table, and then flirt with their waitress.

Patrick would later admit that Emily was perhaps the first woman who hadn't allowed him to make the rules and play his games and the conquest and challenge invigorated him. This admission was not exactly a revelation to Emily who had confided in friends at the time that she doubted he truly loved her as much as he loved the idea of having her. Then her grandmother had died and in desperation she had turned to Patrick. Patrick had not let her down and had managed to rearrange the call schedule so he could drive her back home. Reluctantly she had introduced him to her family who after recovering from their shock over the ten year age gap had welcomed him. Her father had made a comment about having known a Dr. Noah Drake, who interestingly had also been a neurosurgeon. To Emily's amazement Patrick had admitted the man was his father but that they hadn't really spoken since his mother's death years ago. Although reeling from her own grief Emily was curious as it was the first time Patrick had ever spoken about his parents. She began to see that perhaps the arrogance and attitude merely covered the grief, loneliness, and pain. She recalled her own pain in losing her mother and vowed to help Patrick confront his grief.

In time the two shared their pasts and built a life together. Patrick had proposed at a New Years Eve party at her parents house after carefully bribing all the involved children with piggy back rides to allow Emily to pull a special favor from the traditional hope cake. Emily pulled the heirloom ring from the cake and nearly cried as Patrick got down on one knee to thank her for giving him back his life. They were planning to marry in June in her grandmother's rose garden. Emily had prayed and encouraged her fiance to reconnect with his father but Patrick had not yet been able to follow her advice. Again Emily's thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder and this time she turned into warm brown eyes and fell into the arms of her fiance. She caught Lecia and Maggie's eyes roll as she led Patrick away from the dance floor.

"Congratulations! I got your text in between cases," Patrick began kissing her.

"Thank you. It will be good to be home. Especially after the whole hostage thing last month. My dad is also excited that he's getting a "free" neurosurgeon out of the deal. After Dr. Jones died last year they have had problems maintaining the neurosurgical coverage they need to continue meeting the requirements to be a level 1 trauma center. Of course they have always done it but it has been difficult."

"I know your father and I discussed this in quite great detail while you, your mother, Katelyn, Shannon, Nicole, Georgie, and Keesha were oogling over gowns or whatever you were doing for hours, while you abandoned me," Patrick feigned abandonment although in reality he had had an interesting conversation with his future father in law.

"It could be worse, I could have left you with grandfather," Emily said giggling.

"Oh don't worry your grandfather stopped in to remind me that no one hurts his granddaughters and gets away with it. Well let me tell you, your grandfather has nothing to worry about, I love you Emily Bowen-Quartermaine" Patrick said smiling and leaning in for another kiss.


	3. Chapter 2: Best Interests at Heart

For the Love of Family

Chapter 2: Best Interests at Heart

"Shock at 300, everyone clear!" Dr. Monica Quartermaine commanded, the nurse pressed remote button to deliver the shock to the seventy year old gentleman who had back into ventricular fibrillation while she had been performing angioplasty his LAD. Monica looked to the monitor seconds later and was rewarded with a sinus tachycardia. She breathed deeply and instinctively diverted her eyes upward seemingly beyond the ceiling.

"Now lets see if we can finish what we started," she suggested returning her attention to the screen that was showing her his coronary arteries. She advanced the catheter into the artery and again inflated the balloon, carefully watching the monitor but this time Mr. Rutherford's heart cooperated. Balloon deflated the artery showed good flow and she deployed the stent that would hopefully keep the vessel open, and enable him a few more years with the grandchildren.

She finished the procedure, and followed the patient to the post catheterization recovery area to write ICU admission orders. Although groggy from the sedation, Mr. Rutherford appeared to be doing well.

"Monica," a familiar voice called her name and she looked up from her orders to see her husband Dr. Alan Quartermaine, a trama surgeon who was also the hospital's current Chief of Staff.

"Hello Darling, are you finished for the day?" Monica asked.

"Actually yes. Occasionally my best laid plans do not go awry. I'm not even on call tonight. I can pick up up Nicole from piano lessons and then we'll head to Katelyn's meet. Why don't you join us there?"

"I shouldn't be too long I need to get this patient settled, speak to his wife, and read some EKGs. Actually on second thought I'll have to bring those EKGs home because I believe that all of Kate's events are in the first half of the meet. I haven't been to a track meet in years, well not since Emily was still running for the high school team. It was such a great sport for Emily, its great to see Kate discovering it as well," Monica reminisced.

"Yes," Alan agreed uneasily.

"Yes but?" Monica said noting the uneasiness in her husband's response.

"Well Emily wasn't also swimming twenty hours a week while she was on the team. I suppose I worry if she's doing too much," Alan suggested.

"She seems to be doing alright with it though, and her grades are wonderful. She still talks to us, some of her music we can understand, she's nice to her little sister, perhaps we're lucky," Monica suggested.

"More blessed perhaps, it is going to be so good to have Emily home again. Anyway I should go or I'll be late to pick up Nicole. I love you, I'll see you in a bit," Alan said.

"I love you too. Make sure Nicole is warmly dressed enough for the meet, it may be the end of March but it's still cold," Monica returned.

After Alan's departure Monica finished her orders, looked over the nurse's vitals and the rhythm strips. Mr. Rutherford's vitals appeared adequate and stable and he appeared to be in sinus rhythm. "I'm going to go speak with his wife and then I'm leaving please page me if there are any problems Virginia," she said to the nurse.

"Of course Dr. Quartermaine, have a good night," Virginia said.

"Thank you, you too," Monica returned pleasantly and headed toward the double doors.

Forty minutes later she pulled into the athletic visitors parking at Port Charles High School and walked over to the stadium that housed the track and the football field. She scanned the stands for her husband when she heard a loud bellowing "Gooooooooooo Katelyn!" that sounded as if it was coming from a bullhorn. In actuality it was merely her father in law, she chuckled and followed the sound to her family.

"Oh there's mommy! See daddy she had no problems finding us!" Nicole exclaimed as she joined them.

"I just followed the sound," Monica admitted.

"Is there a law against cheering, I think not! Anyway that girl she just passed finished in the top three at the state finals in the 1500 last year. Katelyn's on pace to break 4:40," Edward protested.

Monica looked down to the track where there daughter led by about 40m driving her arms down the homestretch. "Is this it or do they have more laps to go?" she asked.

"This is it, it's the 1500 Monica only three and three-quarter laps," Edward said as Katelyn crossed the line and slowed to a gentle walk.

"Oh I thought she was running a relay," Monica said then blushed a little noting that there were no batons involved.

"That already happened, they won that too. Katelyn ran the third leg and it was basically over then," Edward informed her proudly.

"4:37.3 by the way, very good, that's about where Emily started if I remember correctly," Edward said in a way that assured his family he most certainly remembered correctly. Emily had turned her grandfather into a track fan throughout her high school and later college career at Columbia he had followed the sport with fervor. He researched the runners and teams their strategy and then took to the stands without fail to scream his lungs out. At first the attention had made Emily uncomfortable, she had started running as nothing more than an outlet for her frustration and pain. Monica had understood that but she encouraged it because she considered it a much healthier alternative than other options she had seen other children choose. What neither of them had realized was that Emily had a smooth stride and amazing aerobic capacity. Her natural ability coupled with her hardwork led to fast times, and increased confidence; as she grew from a gangly eighth grader on the varsity team to a modest yet confident footlocker all american who led her high school cross country to back to back state titles in her junior and senior years. Through it all Edward was on the sidelines and in the stands cheering loudly. Initially taken aback by his enthusiasm Emily came to understand and appreciate his love and support. In reality Edward Quartermaine was not a track fan. In fact he had never followed the sport until the night Emily had shyly stumbled that she had joined the junior high track team. See Edward wasn't really a track fan as many of the parents on Emily's team had presumed; no he was a fan of his granddaughter. Had she decided to take up competitive underwater basket weaving Edward probably would have purchased scuba gear.

Katelyn joined them in the stands about ten minutes later and they congratulated her joyously. Coming up for air she said, "I'm done, and we're supposed to be going for a forty five minute run and then I guess watching the rest of the meet. Do you want me to just call you when we're done?"

"Well normally I'd say we should stay and cheer for your teammates as I'm sure their parents cheered for you, but we are having a guest for dinner tonight and it's almost five so perhaps we should head home," Alan suggested.

"I could see if Kortni's mom could give me a ride, it's not too much out of her way I guess," Katelyn suggested.

"It's alright Kate, your father or I can come get you, we just think someone should be home when Dr. Drake arrives," Monica said.

"Emily is coming home? Really? Wow! I didn't know, cool" Katelyn exclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Nicole asked.

"Sorry girls, different Dr. Drake, not your sister's fiance," Alan explained.

"Oh," Katelyn said disappointedly. "Well anyway I should go before my little group leaves without me and I have to run alone," Katelyn said hugging her family and then jogging down the steps of the the stadium to the track.

"Dr. Noah Drake?" Edward inquired.

"Yes, he called last week and said he would be in town he wanted to catch up I suppose. It was a bit surprising, although perhaps he's heard about Emily and Patrick's engagement," Monica wondered aloud standing to leave and taking her youngest daughter's hand.

"Perhaps," Edward said absently. "If I'd known we were having dinner guests I would have arranged to fly out in the morning," he finished starting to follow his son and daughter in law.

"Well, it was rather short notice, fortunately Ashley was willing to prepare some salmon and rice," Alan said referring to their au pair Ashley Roberts who was also a college student at Port Charles University. Originally Monica had been very opposed to having "domestic staff" but in time she had also realized that when both parents had time intensive, stressful, and quite honestly careers that would at times necessitate they put true patient life or death emergencies ahead of their children's desires she had admitted that something had to give. Initially Lila and Edward had moved in to help out, but concerned with imposing on her inlaws Monica had suggested the au pair. They had also hired a groundskeeper/ gardener and contracted with a cleaning service that came in three times a week to do the heavy cleaning. Over the years they had aquired several quite delightful au pairs. A few of whom they continued to keep in contact with.

"Oh and Monica made her irresistable cheesecake this morning," Alan added turning back to face his father with a slight smirk.

"Perhaps that is the real reason you failed to tell me about this dinner party son, more cheesecake for you," Edward chided.

"I'll make another one this weekend when you're home father, I've got second call and Alan is on call so we can't go anywhere anyway. Have a safe trip, Nicole give your grandfather a hug and kiss before we go," Monica instructed as they crossed over to the parking lot. When they reached the car moments later she opened the door for Nicole and ensured she was securely fastened into her booster seat in the back seat.

"Do we need anything from the store?" Alan asked.

"Not that I can think of, I suppose if we do I can grab it when I come back to collect Kate," Monica said opening the door to her SUV and getting inside. She and Alan exchanged a quick kiss and then he strode up the parking lot a few spaces to where his lexus was parked.

Monica backed carefully out of her space drove across the high school campus back onto Federal Avenue, past the town square and the court house. She turned onto Main Street and briefly headed in the direction of General Hospital but then made a quick left and proceeded down Lilac Drive past Lilac Park until she reached their home.She pulled into the garage, killed the engine and waited for Nicole to get out of the car. They walked into house together, "Can you go up and pick out one of your dresses to wear to dinner, I'm going to check on how Ashley is doing with dinner and then one of us will be up to help you take a bath," Monica said closing the door and pausing momentarily in the entry way.

"What kind of a dress? Like a princess one?" Nicole asked running towards the stairs.

"No, more like one you could wear to Sunday school," Monica said.

"Ok," Nicole called scrambling up the stairs.

Monica heard the door open and turned expecting to see her husband but instead found her younger son Kirk, a nineteen year old sophomore at PCU, her ninteen year old nephew Dylan Graber , and Ryan West one of Kirk's Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers walking through the front door. Kirk had been living in the dorms at PCU since starting college but came home frequently. Normally Kirk's drop in visits were pleasant surprises but tonight Monica was a little uneasy about their dinner guest and really didn't want any extra chaos. Dinners with Ryan, Dylan, and Kirk were rarely chaos free.

"Hey mom!" Kirk called unaware of his mother's dilemma.

"Hi sweetheart, hello Dylan, Ryan," Monica greeted the boys refraining from ruining her son's "cool status" by giving him a hug.

"Mrs. Dr. Q, looking fantastic as always. I see the pool has been treating you well," Ryan complimented referring to her usual practice of swimming laps before morning rounds. She would usually take Katelyn and Nicole to their swim practice, swim some laps, head to GH for her morning rounds, return to pick up the girls and then they would all go home to have breakfast as a family before they headed to school and she and Alan back to the hospital.

"Thank you Ryan," Monica replied. Ryan reminded her of the character Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver. She and Alan had shared a laugh over that after a particularly surreal dinner with Kirk and his friend. Alan had also stated that he was somewhat more comfortable with Ryan hitting on his wife than his then twelve year old daughter. Monica had, had to agree with that sentiment as well.

Kirk rolled his eyes at Ryan's comment, "I knew I should have left you in the car Ryan. I'll be right back," Kirk said starting for the front stairs.

"What did I do?" Ryan asked.

"Hi Aunt Monica," Dylan greeted changing the topic.

"So what are you boys up to tonight?" Monica inquired.

"Band practice, but Kirk left his guitar here," Dylan replied just as Kirk appeared at the top of the stairs with his guitar.

"Anyway we should go," Kirk said coming down the stairs and giving his mother a quick hug as Ryan opened the door and started out still looking back at Monica. He managed to walk right into Alan who was coming through the door, and fell onto the porch.

Kirk rolled his eyes again, picked up his friend and continued out the door, "Sorry about that dad," he called over his shoulder.

Monica stifled a laugh and gave her husband a quick hug. "Normally I'd wonder why they are in such a hurry? Or did Kirk just want to get Ryan out of the house before he embarrassed himself further?" Alan asked.

"I think they were late for band practice, I sent Nicole up to pick out a non princess dress and I'm going to quickly check on dinner and help her take a bath," Monica said.

"On that note I'll go grab a shower, Noah should be here around 6:30, about an hour from now. Did Nicole tell you her news?"

"Her news?" Monica asked curiously.

"Yes, she got an outstanding on her piano lesson and she's going to get to play in the recital after all," Alan said beaming rather proudly.

"I didn't think they were allowed to play in the recital until they were eight? I ran into Alexis the other day and she mentioned that Kristina was looking forward to playing next year," Monica said.

"Well, according to Mr. Rosen it is more a standard of being able to play at a certain level than an actual age. Although I didn't realize that Kristina had been excluded. I don't think it is really fair to deprive Nicole just because Kristina isn't at that level though," Alan said.

"No, of course not I just hope it isn't awkward. Anyway I better check on dinner which has the potential to be even more awkward," Monica admitted.

"True, did you tell Emily about Noah's call?" Alan asked.

"No, I didn't want to put her in a situation where she had to keep something from Patrick. Secrets from your spouse are a bad idea in general and there is no sense in learning bad habits during the engagement," Monica explained.

"Good point, do you think Noah wishes to reconcile with Patrick and wants our help?" Alan asked.

"Well someone probably sent him the announcement from the paper. I feel like we've gotten quite close to Patrick but he's barely mentioned Noah. I don't want to pump Emily for information but I hope he's shared more with her," Monica admitted.

Shortly before 630 Monica and Alan were relaxing on the leather sofa in the living room listening to Nicole play the piano. Katelyn was upstairs theoretically showering and getting ready for dinner but also likely on the phone with her best friend Kortni Barnes, who's father was an orthopedic surgeon at General Hospital. The doorbell rang interrupting their peaceful moment and Alan got up to open the door.

On the doorstep stood Dr. Noah Drake. Alan recalled that he would have to be at least sixty now and he looked perhaps older with a head full of gray hair. Although clean shaven and dressed in an impeccable expensive suit he also looked haggard and worn as if the years had not treated him well. Alan recalled what Patrick had mentioned about the loss of his spouse and his estrangement from his son surely that would be enough to age anyone ungracefully. "Welcome to our home Noah. It certainly had been awhile," Alan began heartily extending his hand. "Come on in," he extolled then stepping back a little to allow the older man to the cross the threshhold into the foyer.

He then led Dr. Drake into the living room where Nicole was still playing the piano. "You remember Monica, I'm sure," Alan said.

"Yes, of course," Noah agreed.

"It's great to see you again, it has certainly been awhile," Monica said standing to hug him.

"Yes, it has. Who is the young Mozart?" Noah inquired.

"Our youngest daughter Nicole. She is five. Katelyn is fourteen, she's upstairs getting ready for dinner after her track meet. Our other three children technically do not live at home. Our oldest son AJ and his wife live nearby. They both teach at Lilac Park Elementary, one of our local elementary schools. Emily is a medical student at Columbia, and Kirk is a sophomore at Port Charles University. Although in our youngest son's case we really didn't lose a son we more gained an entire fraternity of his brothers," Alan quipped as Ashley entered the room from the hall.

"This must be Emily, I presume," Noah asked.

"Actually, no. Noah I'd like you to meet Ashley Roberts, our nanny. She's been with us for the last three years and is also a student at PCU. Ashley this is Dr. Noah Drake, a neurosurgeon, he worked with us at the hospital years ago before moving to Atlanta," Alan introduced them and Noah extended his hand.

"Should I go see if Katelyn is ready for dinner?" Ashley offered.

"That would be great Ashley, thank you," Monica agreed. "Nicole come and meet Dr. Drake," she called across the room to her youngest.

Obediently Nicole stopped playing, hopped off the piano bench and sprinted across the marble floor to her parents. Suddenly shy she leaned against her father and Alan wrapped an arm around her warmly. "Nicole, meet Dr. Drake who mommy and daddy worked with at the hospital years ago. He does brain surgery," Alan explained.

"Hi," Nicole said smiling. Noah noticed the sparkle and glimmer in her eyes. It reminded him of his Mattie.

Katelyn and Ashley joined them then and they progressed into the dining room where Monica led the prayer and they sat down to dinner. Dinner conversation was superficial and light. After dinner Katelyn offerend to help Nicole get ready for bed before finishing up her own homework so both girls gave their parents good night kisses and hugs and then left the room hand in hand. "Why don't you take Noah back into the living room. I'll help Ashley with the cleanup and then bring us in some tea," Monica suggested.

In the living room Alan and Noah sat uncomfortably. Noah asked politely about General Hospital. Alan talked proudly about their regional trauma and cardiac care designation and the new perinatal center. With sadness he mentioned the death of former Cheif of Staff Steve Hardy and more recently neurosurgeon Dr. Tony Jones who had succumbed to the encephalitis outbreak of a year ago. He looked up and saw Monica coming in with a tray of tea.

Monica set the tray on the coffee table and joined her husband on the sofa where she served tea to the three of them. Settled with their tea conversation resumed.

"I'm sorry to hear about Dr. Jones' death. He was joining the medical staff around the time I was getting ready to move to Atlanta, but I've spoken with him at some professional meetings and conferences since then, he always seemed to have a genuine regard for his patients" Noah said.

"Yes he did. Tony was a good man. He made some poor choices at times, more in his personal than professional life, but I suppose we all do at times. The reality is no matter how much you might want you never can go back and change the past you can only attempt to move forward to a better future," Monica said making Noah wonder if perhaps the Quartermaines knew what he wished to talk about. Perhaps it was odd for him to be preparing to bare his sole to colleagues he hadn't spoken to in over twenty five years. However, in sense he had more of a collegial bond with Alan Quartermaine than he had formed with any of his colleagues in Atlanta. His therapist said that was foreshadowing for his downward spiral but Noah saw it more as having different priorities at different periods in his life. There were only limited hours in the day and his first priority had to be his wife and Patrick. He didn't socialize outside of the hospital with any of his fellow doctors.

"True, unfortunately sometimes though one poor choice leads to a series of others and trail of destruction," Noah said making Monica wonder if the details of Tony's infidelity and legal issues had been known by his greater colleagues outside of the area.

"So your department must be reasonably young," Noah questioned attempting to delay the inevitable.

"Somewhat, Dr. Art Kraznick is about our age, he joined the medical staff about fifteen years ago, he needed a change after the death of his wife and son in an accident. Dr. Kurt Russell is four years out of residency and after Dr. Jones' death we added Dr. Mark Straslow who just finished his residency last year. Being a level one trauma center we have to have a trauma surgeon and neurosurgeon in house and they are all taking more call than they want. We're serendipitously gaining a young doctor four years out of residency who has been working at an attending in the city. His fiance just matched at General Hospital for Pediatrics so we're getting an added bonus and we're actively recruiting a fifth now," Alan said steering the conversation towards what he presumed Noah wished to talk about, his son Patrick.

However, Noah was unaware of the connection. He did note that perhaps the hospital's desperation would work in his favor. He took a deep breath and began to tell the doctors Quartermaine about his wife's unsuccessful craniotomy and death and his downward spiral into depression, alcohol, and general self destruction. Monica squeezed her husband's hand as Noah spoke. She remembered the night of her father in law's first, and she hoped only, heart attack five years ago. She had been only a few weeks away from her due date with Nicole and on in house Cardiology call. The ER had called her to alert her about an incoming cardiac arrest and she had gone down to the ER to help the ED physician Dr. Joe Scanlon run the code. The paramedics had been unable to obtain IV access and she had quickly thrown in a central line without even realizing who the patient was. After defibrillation and some code drugs pushed through her central line there was a restoration of spontaneous circulation and EKGs showed the likely explanation as an ST elevation myocardial infarction. Edward was whisked off to the cath lab and Monica attempted to reach their second call as she didn't feel it was appropriate for her to do her father in law's cardiac catheterization. However, as Edward's blood pressure started dropping Monica realized she didn't have that luxury and went ahead with the procedure. She had told Alan later that she was sure that God had guided her hands and looked after them all that night as she successfully stented two arteries and gave her father in law a chance to meet their youngest daughter. She wished that things had worked similarly for the Drakes.

"I know it was wrong for me to do the surgery, morally, ethically, and now I must live with the guilt, regret, and wonder if perhaps a more objective surgeon could have brought her through this," Noah said quietly.

"Oh Noah, I'm so sorry that things happened this way and sorry about your loss. What I said before is true though, in time you have to allow yourself to heal. I'm sure Mattie would want that," Monica said.

"She is right," Alan asserted. "Are you still drinking?" he asked.

"No, I've been sober for almost nine months now. I was on call one night, in no shape to operate and needed to, I had to call a colleague to cover and after that I checked into a rehab program. I suppose that is the other half of our conversation, I need a physician sponsor to return to practice, I'd like you to be that person and I'd like to return to General Hospital," Noah said.

Alan was taken aback and unsure how to respond. General Hospital needed another neurosurgeon and he remembered Dr. Drake's talents. Still the liability of the issue could be a nightmare. The hospital was still reeling from recent tragedies and he wasn't sure how they would survive another if it came to that. Plus there was the issue of Noah and Patrick's relationship. Through their conversation he had become quite certain that Noah had no idea his son was planning to marry their daughter within the next few months. "I would have to talk to our hospital attorney of course but I think we can work something out," Alan said slightly uneasily. "However, before I do that I think there is something else we need to discuss," Alan said firmly.

"Of course, anything," Noah said feeling slightly like he was heading to execution.

"When was the last time you spoke with your son?" Alan asked.

Noah shuddered. There weren't words to describe how he had failed Patrick not just by taking his mother, but by being unable to see past his own pain. Patrick had started college early and they hadn't spoken since. Recently he had begun to look for his son but they had not connected. He supposed Alan had every right to call him on that. "It's been years. I couldn't see past my own pain or even begin to understand his. I'd like to repair things but perhaps that is too much to hope for, and honestly I don't even know where he is," Noah said hanging his head.

"I had begun to suspect as much,"Alan began and Noah sunk deeper in his chair. He deserved that condemnation he realized but it still hurt. "At first when you called we thought you wanted to talk about Patrick," Alan continued and Noah realized perhaps it wasn't condemnation as much as a statement of reality.

"Why did you think I would want to talk about Patrick? I'm surprised you even remembered his name. He was just three or four when we ran into you at that conference in California," Noah said.

"Well we've gotten to know your son quite well over the last few years. He's engaged to our daughter Emily, he mentioned he hadn't seen you much in recent years, we just figured you had heard about the engagement," Monica said.

"Is he...is he alright?" Noah asked voice quivering.

"He seems to be, he and Emily really connect and I think they've both shared their grief and come out stronger for it. We're excited to have them back here perhaps for good soon. Emily matched here for her Pediatrics residency,"Alan explained.

"So my son is the bonus neurosurgeon?" Noah asked emotions circling wildly, loss, pride, hope, and then more loss.

"Yes, he's quite talented from what we hear. I truly believe that God sometimes brings us into situations for reasons we don't always understand, perhaps this is his way of giving you and Patrick a second chance at a relationship. I just didn't want you walking into that without knowing that," Alan admitted.

"I'm not sure what to say, my therapist thought my desire to return to NY was just an attempt to hide, and perhaps this will sound crazy but I prayed about this and this was what my gut told me to do. Perhaps you're right, I want a relationship with Patrick. I'm not sure if I deserve that but I want one," Noah said.

"I think he wants that too, and what you said doesn't sound crazy at all," Monica said her eyes misting.


	4. Chapter 3: Difficult Decisions

_I hope this isn't bogging down and dragging too much as I lay some back story to kind of flesh out the characters. I'm intentionally deviating a little from the history but if things are too off please let me know. For those of you who like Patrick and Emily as a couple they are building up to a couple of critical scenes and of course their wedding coming up in June. Some may say that Patrick is very different than he is portrayed on GH and that is true but I'd argue he may be very similar to what Patrick could be like in a few years if he truly found a woman who loved him and he loved back. In my story Emily Quartermaine just happens to be that woman._

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 3: Difficult Decisions

Two weeks later, Emily Bowen Quartermaine stepped from the shower after her morning run just as the phone began to ring. Hurriedly she wrapped a large towel around herself and dashed across the tile into the master bedroom of her apartment. "Good morning!" she said cheerily picking up the phone on the bedside table.

"Good morning sweetheart!" Monica Quartermaine told her daughter.

"Hey Mom! How are you?" Emily said.

"I'm fine. I was wondering what your plans were between now and graduation?" Monica inquired.

"Technically I'm done with rotations, I need to take PALS, ACLS and NRP though. We're doing NRP during orientation but supposedly if I do it now I can skip that part of orientation so I may just do all three. Oh and we're spending a few days and you're teaching me some fraction of what you know about pediatric echocardiography," Emily said jokingly.

"So does that mean you are taking all your certification courses at the hospital here?"

"Actually yes, Patrick and I are coming home this weekend because we have to start looking at houses. He has Monday off as well but then he's going to go back and I'm going to stay and do that and maybe finish the house hunting process because we probably won't really be done," Emily said.

"You know you could always stay with us for awhile..." Monica said.

"Yes, but we kind of want to have our own place. We'll be married in six weeks and since we're skipping the honeymoon to move we decided that having some place that was ours together could make up for that or something like that. Yes mom we're both dorks but you knew that," Emily laughed.

"Careful Em, your father and I might resemble that remark," Monica quipped.

"Hmmm maybe there is hope for Patrick and I after all," Emily joked.

"I think there is plenty of hope for both of you, should we plan on you for dinner tonight?" Monica asked.

"I think so, I'll call you if that changes. Patrick isn't on call and he was only doing a shunt revision this morning and then we were going to leave," Emily said.

"Uhhh Mom?" Emily asked.

"Yes dear," Monica said uneasily noting the change in her daughter's voice.

"How is Keesha?" Emily asked.

Monica hesitated. She doubted Emily's question represented a polite and random inquiry about her sister in law. She suspected that perhaps somehow Emily knew the truth that Keesha was pregnant. Monica herself had learned by serendipitous accident. She had been down in the ED doing a consult when she had noticed her daughter in law being brought in after she had passed out during her Saturday shopping expedition at the Crossing. Monica had been about to call her son but Keesha had begged her not to and had told her about the pregnancy but sworn her to secrecy.

"She's good. A little stressed with end of the quarter stuff now that the elementary school moved to a year round schedule. AJ is taking a cooking course and fortunately so far neither of them has ended up in the ED with food poisioning," Monica joked attempting to lighten the mood.

"Has she told AJ yet?" Emily asked confirming Monica's suspicions.

"No, she hasn't and I truly wish she would. I know she's scared, hurting, and perhaps trying to shield him. But honestly some of my worst regrets stem from times I've tried to shut your father out. Secrets in a marriage do not strengthen it. I've encouraged Keesha to tell AJ the truth, I'll continue to support her and pray for both of them. I don't think it's my place to tell him though," Monica admitted.

"Yeah, I don't think it's my place either and I sort of told her the same. I mean I'm sure she's terrified, they were so ready for that baby, then she was assaulted and now with all the uterine scaring they are worried the baby may not grow normally. I'd be completely freaking out but I'd also like to think that I'd be able to be honest with Patrick about my fears and that maybe we could support each other. I don't think it helped what I said. I'm sure she doesn't really want me to know but she almost literally bumped into me and she was coming out of Dr. Abrams office and he does high risk OB so I kind of knew. I suspect she told me just to keep me from calling AJ myself. Poor Keesh," Emily finished.

"I know honey, but I think all we can do is encourage her and pray. Perhaps the three of us could have lunch together when you're here next week. I know Keesha is taking a half personal day to have another ultrasound at General Hospital next Friday. I offered to go with her because I do not think she should go through this alone, but I'm hoping that she'll find it in her heart to ask AJ to accompany her," Monica said.

"That sounds good, I'm taking my PALs recertification next Thursday so Friday would be great for lunch," Emily agreed as a persistent knock at the door interrupted their conversation. "Hang on a minute mom, someone is at the door," she continued.

"Actually Em I'll let you go. I need to do a cardiac catheterization in fifteen minutes anyway. You and Patrick have a safe trip here and if I'm not unavoidably detained at the hospital I'll make that spinach lasagna you love. I love you sweetheart," Monica said.

"I love you too mom," Emily said hanging up the phone and grabbing a robe to throw on over her towel to go answer the door.

Emily dashed through her apartment to the front door surprised to open it and find her friend Elizabeth Weber Spencer sobbing in the doorway. "Oh Liz," Emily said hugging her friend and pulling her into the apartment. Emily closed and then locked the door and led her friend over to the couch. "Are you alright Liz?" she asked as they both sat down on the couch.

"Lucky," Liz began but then buried her face in her best friend's shoulder and resumed sobbing. Emily silently let her friend cry. It had been a dumb question anyway; of course she wasn't alright. It was difficult to be alright when you were married to a drug addict prone to fits of rage and violence when he was high. This wasn't the first time Emily had seen her friend devastated by Lucky's actions. Over the two years of his addiction, first to narcotic pain medicine but in time heroin and crack cocaine Emily had watched, comforted, reasoned, and pleaded with her friend to end the marriage. She worried about Liz's safety and she worried about her young son, five year old Cameron's safety. But always Lucky would vow things would be different and Liz would return to him. But things were never different and she needed her friend to understand that she wasn't abandoning her husband, she was just no longer enabling his addiction.

Liz's sobs quieted and she raised her head to reach for a kleenex from the box on Emily's coffee table. She sniffled and blew her nose. "Lucky is still using drugs," she said and then was overcome with a new wave of tears. Emily refrained from responding that of course Lucky was still using drugs. Everyone except for possibly Liz was quite aware of that fact. Honestly Emily thought even Liz probably knew but was unable to really face the truth and easier to pretend that things really would be different. Emily herself truly wished things were different. Lucky Spencer had been her first non family friend when she had come to Port Charles to stay with the Quartermaines while her biological mother had treatment for her breast cancer. After her mother's death the Quartermaines had adopted her and her social circle had included her old sister Alli, Lucky Spencer, Liz and Sarah Weber, Joshua Reardon, Amy Rourke, and Nikolas Cassadine who was actually Lucky's half brother. In some ways Lucky had been the almost older brother, or her and Alli's mischievous triplet. Their backgrounds were quite different and although their parents couldn't relate to Lucky's parents' legal problems and alcohol abuse at one point Emily remembered her mother stating that perhaps it could be as simple as she believed that Laura Spencer loved her husband and her children and they had that common ground. In time Emily had come to understand the simplicity and importance in those words but also wondered if perhaps although the love was definitely there neither Lucky nor his younger sister felt as comfortable and confident in it as she, AJ, Alli, Kirk, Katelyn and Nicole had. She had realized that her friendship with Lucky had initiated and thrived at time when perhaps she was less confident in her parents love. It had made sense as there had to be an adjustment period for her and them. For them to immediately have a strong relationship would have been fake and farcical. But somehow they had all persevered and loved and Emily did consider herself a Quartermaine. She had two mothers and two fathers and at twenty three she could appreciate the role they had all played in making her who she was. She thought that perhaps the distance in her relationship with Lucky had started as she became more secure in Monica and Alan's love and then widened over time until the large gulch created when her good friend from high school Amy Rourke was struck and killed by Lucky driving while impaired. In the end the police had insufficient evidence to charge him as critical evidence disappeared due to a computer virus and some evidence theft and he was never able to be tried. Somehow Liz had allowed herself to see that as Lucky being innocent rather than Lucky's father committing another crime to save his son from the first crime. Emily realized that Lucky would, and probably did although she really hadn't spoken to him much after Amy's death, consider that Spencer loyalty. However, she considered it enabling and denial. She shifted her weight a little as Liz continued to sob. She realized Patrick was probably likely to arrive in the next two hours and she still needed to dress, eat some breakfast, and finish packing for their trip. She didn't mean to be unfeeling towards her friend but honestly it was difficult for her to watch Liz continue to repeat the same cycle and she truly feared for Liz and Cameron's safety.

"Liz, sweetie, why don't you sit up so we can talk. Is Cameron with your grandmother?" Emily attempted.

Slowly Liz uprighted herself, sniffling and making a big production of blowing her nose. "Yes, I didn't want him to miss the day of school. I think Lucky just needs a little space I'm sure everything will be fine when we come home on Monday," Liz said.

"Liz, you're one of my best friends and I will always be grateful for how much you, Lucky, and Nikolas helped me when Alli was sick and after her death. It's because I'm your friend that I have to say this," Emily began. "Lucky needs help. He's addicted to drugs, and it's an illness he can't fix it on his own and you can't make it better by loving him enough. I've given him options for treatment in the past and I can give you some now but ultimately neither of us can do it for him. He has to take that step and accept the help. If he can't do that then you need to take a step and free yourself and Cam from this insanity," Emily finished giving her friend's hand and compassionate squeeze.

"I'm not going to abandon my husband Emily!" Liz said turning her face away and Emily gasped at the bruise on her friend's upper jaw.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" Emily asked.

Instinctively Liz's hand flew to cover the bruise but she winced at her own light touch. "It was an accident, he didn't mean it," she said grimly.

"I'd actually believe that, I think a lot of what Lucky does when he is high is beyond his control. Still he makes the choice to get high so it could be within his control. You and Cameron aren't safe with him anymore. You aren't abandoning your husband you're allowing your son to have a safe home to grow up in," Emily said.

"He'd never hurt Cam, he loves him," Liz protested.

"Honestly Liz, I believe he still loves you both, and I don't believe any of the three of you are safe. Please seriously think about what I have said," Emily said.

"I'm sure if I talk to him, he'll make it alright. He's just been stressed a lot looking for a job and stuff," Liz started in with more excuses.

"He needs to go into treatment Liz, he isn't going to fix this on his own. You aren't going to help him fix it," Emily asserted.

"Maybe, but you have to let him try to do it on his own first. He doesn't want to be away from Cameron, that would be so hard on Cameron too," Liz said.

"Liz you're a nurse if a patient was telling you this what would you say?" Emily asked.

"Well we were always taught to empower and advocate for what our patients wanted in nursing school so I think I'd encourage them to try," Liz said.

"I really hope you were taught to advocate for your patients best interests not what they want. I mean often patients want things that aren't safe or even legal, we probably shouldn't give them those things," Emily replied getting a little frustrated. "Anyway Patrick will probably be here in a little over an hour and I still need to get dressed and finish packing for our trip," Emily explained starting to stand.

"Where are you going?" Liz asked.

"To Port Charles actually. We're looking at houses, well and then I'm staying for two weeks with my parents since I'm done with rotations and we don't actually graduate for another month," Emily explained.

"You're buying a house?" Liz asked with slight jealousy reflecting on the dilapidated apartment that she and Lucky still lived in.

"Well we kind of have to have somewhere to live. Anyway Patrick and I both own our apartments here so if we sell them and don't buy something else then we'll be facing huge capital gains taxes. I think we're selling Patrick's and keeping mine so if we want to come back into the city for a weekend or something, well at least for the moment because selling both in the same year is I guess according to Ned a bad financial move. Always good to have a cousin and an aunt who are attorneys," Emily explained.

"Well if you are going back to Port Charles then maybe I'll go see Josh this weekend," Liz said referring to another of their high school friends who lived in New Jersey.

"You're welcome to hang out here if you want," Emily offered realizing that Liz really needed to do some serious soul searching and make a difficult decision.

"I wouldn't want to impose, and I have been meaning to visit Josh," Liz said.

"Well the offer still stands if you change your mind. Why don't you let me get dressed, finish up my packing and then I'll make us some breakfast," Emily suggested.

"Could I take a shower?" Liz asked standing.

"Of course you know where the guest room is there are towels and everything in there," Emily offered and both women went off to prepare for their day.

Thirty minutes later Emily dressed in a pair of designer jeans and a scoop neck top, pulled a large suitcase and a garmet bag into the living room and set them by the door. She then went into the kitchen and whipped up some scrambled eggs and toasted several bagels. When Liz joined her they ate in silence. Emily loaded the dishes into the dishwasher and wiped down the counters and then went into the bedroom to brush her teeth. When she came back out she found Liz sitting on the couch staring aimlessly. "I really love him," Liz said wistfully.

"I know sweetie," Emily said sitting down beside her friend. "Taking care of yourself doesn't invalidate your love, maybe Lucky will find the strength to get help. Please please think about all that I've said. You have my cell so if you need anything this weekend please call." Emily finished as she heard a knock on the door.

Emily opened the door happily for her fiance and their lips brushed into a kiss and she pulled Patrick inside. "Patrick you remember my friend Elizabeth Weber Spencer right?" Emily asked.

"Yes, Liz it's great to see you again. I didn't realize you were visiting," Patrick began crossing the room to extend his hand to her friend.

"Well I just stopped to see Emily for a bit I'm heading to visit a friend in New Jersey for the weekend. I understand you two are heading back to Port Charles," Liz said.

"Yes, I have a long weekend so we're going house hunting." Patrick said.

"Well I really should be on the road myself. I want to avoid Friday afternoon traffic. I suppose you two do as well," Liz suggested.

"Can I help you carry anything," Patrick offered.

"I just have this one bag, but it looks like Emily has enough luggage for a few weeks," Liz quipped.

"Well that's convenient because I will be in Port Charles for a few weeks. Which means that you should call my cell or call my parents house when you get back from New Jersey. Maybe we can take the kids out for pizza or something," Emily suggested.

"Yeah maybe," Liz said wistfully.

Patrick picked up Emily's suitcase and garmet bag and Emily slung her backpack and purse over her shoulder and followed her friend and fiance from the apartment. She locked the door carefully and followed them to the elevator. She had a feeling that it was going to be a very interesting two weeks in Port Charles.


	5. Chapter 4: Irony, Honesty, & Family

_Yeah this chapter took a slightly different direction than I had intended it's actually an extended interlude really I suppose...review and tell me if you like it or I should scrap it._

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For the Love of Family

Chapter 4: Irony, Honesty & Family

Emily's eyes drooped as Patrick drove up the interstate towards her home. The trip usually took them a little over two hours so they would probably get there around 1:30. "I should call my mom and tell her we'll pick up Nicole at school, we can take her to the park or something. I know Katelyn has practice," Emily suggested yawning, stretching and then reaching into her purse for her cell.

"I thought that was in the morning?" Patrick asked.

"Swim practice is in the morning for both of them, four am to be precise. Katelyn has track practice after school most days," Emily advised.

"Noted," Patrick quipped flashing his fiance a smile before returning his eyes to the road. Seriously he loved the way Emily cared and looked out for her little sisters. She'd be an amazing mom someday for that and many other reasons he was sure.

"Try to keep up Dr. Drake," Emily joked and was about to dial her cell when the opening strains of "Teach Your Children" filled the car. Patrick smiled reflecting on what other young women would have a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song as a ring tone. In fact he doubted that many of Emily's peers even realized the group existed. However since Alan, Emily, Katelyn, and Nicole had harmonized a rendition of the same song for the General Hospital Nurse's Ball last summer Emily had dug up the song online and downloaded it to her cell. She claimed it was distinctive, and he supposed it was.

"Hello," Emily said into her cell.

"Hello Emily, it's Jason" a familiar voice greeted her.

"Hi Jason, how are you?" Emily began trying to swallow her surprise that her cousin, Jason Morgan, was calling her. In all honesty she was a little surprised he even had her cell number as they really hadn't spoken since her grandmother's funeral and that had been nearly three years ago.

"I'm good. It's been awhile Em," Jason spoke tersely.

"Yes, yes it has," Emily agreed she still had no idea where the conversation was going or honestly where it had come from.

"I need to see you. There is something I need to tell but it has to be in person. Could you come back to Port Charles?" Jason said uneasily.

"Actually Patrick and I are coming home this weekend to look at houses," Emily answered and then wondered if she should have revealed the information.

"Patrick? Oh yeah the doctor right? You're engaged, I think I saw that in the paper," Jason admitted.

"Yes, Patrick is my fiance. Listen I'd like to meet you but you know how protective my dad is, and you know that someone will find out," Emily hesitated. "Listen I have a better idea, why don't you come for dinner tomorrow night?" she suggested.

"I'm sure that your parents want me in their home, not" Jason protested.

"Well I think they would deal with that better than hearing that I'm sneaking off to meet you somewhere. They still love you Jason, they don't agree with the choices you've made but they still love you and the reason they give you such a hard time about those choices you've made is because they think those choices will get you killed and they don't want that to happen," Emily said more emotionally than she had intended. She realized she wasn't just thinking about Jason but also of her earlier conversation with Liz.

"What if we meet in a neutral location?" Jason asked desperately.

"What part of my parents always find out did you not understand?" Emily asked frustrated.

"When are you going to grow up and stop needing their permission every time you turn around?" Jason retorted.

"I don't need their permission. I'm choosing not to do something that will hurt them," Emily said firmly.

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Listen Brenda said we could meet at her house, please tonight, any time that is convenient for you," Jason asked.

"I'm also not going to lie to them about what I'm doing Jason," Emily said.

"So tell them that you're going to see Brenda. She just got back into town and she has a wedding gift for you and Patrick," Jason said.

"Is Brenda actually in Port Charles? I thought she was in LA for some photo shoot?" Emily asked referring to her friend Brenda Barrett a relatively famous model.

"Yes, she just got back last night," Jason massaged the truth slightly.

"Alright Patrick and I will come see Brenda, I suppose if you happen to be there we could talk," Emily compromised feeling very uneasy about the whole situation.

"Thank you Emily," Jason said followed by a click terminating their conversation.

Emily closed her phone and then looked up to realize that they were pulling into a parking lot, Patrick had taken the service area exit from the New York State ThruWay.

"Do we need gas?" Emily asked.

"No, but I think we need to talk, and I'm starving I never got lunch, why don't I get us a few sandwiches and you can call your mom and let her know we'll pick up Nicole at 2:45 unless you anticipate our necessary conversation taking longer than an hour," Patrick said getting out of the car without further comment.

Emily watched him stalk into the service area, exhaled and dialed her mother's office number. Their conversation was brief as her mother had been just stepping out her door to go do another catheterization. She thanked Emily for picking up her sister and promised she was still optimistic for spinach lasagna. When Patrick returned a few minutes later with their sandwiches she took another deep breath. She reached for Patrick's free hand as they walked towards some outside picnic tables and he let her took it. She swallowed reassuring herself that they would talk and it would be alright. She hoped.

Patrick broke the silence when they sat down. Taking Emily's hand again he offered a simple "Father bless this food and the hands that prepared it. Amen,".

"Amen," Emily echoed.

"I presume you were speaking to your cousin?" Patrick asked.

"Yes," Emily said uneasily.

"I thought the two of you were no longer in contact?" Patrick asked.

"We aren't really, I haven't spoken to him since Grandmother's funeral and that was almost three years ago," Emily said honestly.

"Yet, he had your cell number," Patrick stated, knowing that she had gotten a new phone and number about eighteen months ago.

"I was a little surprised by that as well. Perhaps Brenda gave it to him. They are friends still I believe," Emily said honestly.

"I'm not sure meeting him is such a great idea," Patrick said unwrapping his sandwich.

"I'm not either. But somehow it feels more right than wrong. Jason really isn't a bad guy, I can say that because I remember him before the accident," Emily said starting to nibble on her sandwich and reflect on her cousin.

Jason was technically her second cousin by adoption. His grandfather had been her grandmother's brother. Jason was almost ten years older but had attended Port Charles University and spent many weekends with his great aunt Lila and his cousins during his college days. He'd helped Emily through some of her awkward grief and transition period in a very unassuming way and no matter what he did now nothing would change how he had helped her then. After finishing his bachelors in criminal justice he had returned home to work on the police force in the town he grew up in outside of Boston. Ten years ago while taking his parents out to celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary their car was struck by a drunk driver and both of his parents were killed. Jason had survived but not without traumatic brain injury that stole most of his memories and her parents had encouraged him to recuperate at their home. The accident had been largely swept under the rug as a the driver of the other car had been the son of a powerful family. Frustrated with how his parents death was handled and his own memory loss in absurd irony Jason had accepted a job working for local coffee importer Michael "Sonny" Corinthos Jr who had significant mafia connections. Jason's choices had hurt, and frightened her parents and grandparents. In time he had forged somewhat of a relationship with both Emily and his great-aunt Lila. However, after Lila's death that connection had weakened and largely severed. Emily knew that her parents missed him but she also understood their concerns. What Jason did on a daily basis was illegal and honestly dangerous.

"Emily he's a criminal, he kills people for a living," Patrick said simply and then put the final bite of his sandwich in his mouth.

"I know. But he helped me immensely when my biological mother died. He helped me to see that some kids were just meant to have more than one mother and more than one father. Honestly Jason has become everything he once despised but that doesn't mean I have to stop loving him. I pray that Jason will find his faith and his way away from the dark side and back to us. It's what I have to do Patrick," Emily said.

"I'm coming with you tonight," Patrick asserted.

"Of course, we're a team now Patrick," Emily agreed.

"Would you stay away from Jason if I asked?" Patrick asked.

"Please don't ask me to. Jason is family and on some level we can never truly turn our back on family," Emily said.

"You have a point," Patrick admitted. He shut his eyes tightly for a moment reflecting on whether one could say he had done that to his father.

Emily interpreted the look. "Are you thinking about your father?" she asked reaching for Patrick's hand again.

"Yes," Patrick admitted.

"Perhaps we should invite him to the wedding," Emily suggested.

"Perhaps," Patrick said wistfully. It wasn't the first time they had had this conversation.

"It's your decision Patrick, I support what you decide but I think perhaps you and your dad need to allow each other to heal," Emily suggested.

"You may be right, let me think and pray about it a little more," Patrick said. "I guess we should get back on the road, I think there is a playground calling our names," Patrick said smiling as they cleaned up their trash.

Back in Port Charles Jason put the orange juice back in the refrigerator and picked up the glass from the counter and made his way into the bedroom. A cachectic woman propped up on pillows and under layers of quilts opened her eyes as he entered and crossed to the bed with the juice. "I called Emily, are you feeling any better?" he asked afraid of the answer.

"Not really," her voice was faint and she seemed to struggle with the words. "I'm sorry Jase," she continued.

"What are you sorry for?" Jason asked gruffly, tipping the juice to her lips. She took a few sips and then turned her face away seeming almost to labor with the effort.

"For letting it get so bad," she said struggling more.

"Just rest, you're going to feel better," Jason said readjusting the quilts, and then turning to creep from the room.

"Jase," her voice was barely audible.

"Yes,".

"Will you stay with me, hold me," she asked breathily.

Jason hesitated, reluctantly he removed his shoes, and climbed into the other side of the bed. Gently he took her quilted form into his arms. "Just rest," he whispered several times and they both fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 5: Reaching Out

_This is turning a little Brazen, I'm not sure if that is for real or not. Critical reviews would be, well awesome :)_

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For the Love of Family

Chapter 5: Reaching Out

Emily Quartermaine unlocked the imposing front door of her parents house, well ok near mansion; as her fiance struggled across the threshhold with her two suitcases, a garmet bag and his laptop. Emily quickly retrieved his laptop that was in danger of falling. "I told you, you needed to make two trips or let me carry some of my own stuff," she quipped.

"Real men carry bags for women they love," Patrick attempted.

"Real men don't injure themselves with multiple suitcases if their ever capable fiance could carry her own stuff," Emily retorted reaching for her suitcase with her left hand and starting up the stairs to her room, her backpack and purse over her right shoulder.

Lagging Patrick retrieved his own suitcase and her garmet bag and followed her up the sweeping expansive circular staircase. Emily waited for her fiance to reach the upstairs foyer. "Mom said to put you in the east guest room. I guess that one of Kirk's friends is spending the weekend as well, let me take this to my room and then we'll make sure you have everything in your room," she suggested.

"Would I be unkind if I hoped it wasn't that annoying Ryan guy?" Patrick asked following Emily into her bedroom.

"Perhaps a little," Emily admitted laying her garmet bag and purse on her bed and leaning her suitcase and backpack against the wall. "Of course you might also be honest," she finished pulling Patrick into her embrace.

They shared the longer kiss they had missed earlier and she allowed herself to melt into his embrace really losing sense of anything but the moment. Interrupting their passion came the strains of _'You who are on the road...must have a code that you can live by,'. _Sighing Emily completed the kiss and pulled her cell from her purse again.

"Hello," she began.

"Emily, it's Jason," greeted her again.

"Hello again Jason," Emily tried to respond lightly but she sensed the distress in his voice.

"Brenda said to ask you if you wanted to come for dinner," Jason said.

"Actually we already have dinner plans, I'm sorry Jason maybe another night," Emily suggested.

"Perhaps you could cancel them?" Jason wondered.

Emily pushed past her initial 'what the heck' and tried to figure out what was so important and what Jason needed. "How about dessert at 7:30 and we may be a little late, we're having dinner with mom and dad first and I believe dad is on second trauma call so dinner may be delayed," Emily said.

"Ok well I'll see you then," Jason said hanging up abruptly.

"Bye Jason, I love you too," Emily said to the air, closing her phone.

"I don't have a good feeling about this Em," Patrick said.

"I don't either, I think something is wrong, I think he's in trouble," Emily admitted.

"Maybe you should tell him we can't meet them," Patrick suggested.

"I can't turn my back on him like that Patrick, please trust me on this," Emily said.

Patrick was silent, but his expression told her he was thinking. "Listen Patrick it will be ok, anyway come on we have to pick up Nicole in like twenty minutes lets get your stuff at least into your guestroom," Emily said changing the subject and leading him from her room.

Ten minutes later as they started to walk to Kendall Park Elementary where Nicole was in first grade. Patrick reached for Emily's hand and she embraced back. "I love you," Emily whispered.

"I love you too, and I guess I love your desire to help; I just worry about you being safe. I truly don't know what I'd do if I lost you Emily," Patrick admitted.

"I know, listen I don't feel that tonight is going to be unsafe, I'm afraid more that Jason is going to tell me something painful. Like he's going to jail, or he's on drugs, or something like that. But see that's why I have to meet him, I think he's reaching out Patrick, I can't turn my back on that," Emily admitted as they reached the school.

"Alright, I'm trusting you, we'll go see them tonight," Patrick agreed giving her quick peck like cheek as they waited on the front lawn of the school. He supposed being caught in a kiss of passion when one hundred elementary students came through the door at any moment would be bad. As predicted there was an exodus of children and he and Emily reunited with Nicole signaled to her teacher that they were leaving and started the trek back home.

Emily carried her sister's backpack and lunch box while Nicole road piggy back style home. "Can we come back and go to the park or playground after I change?" Nicole asked hopefully as they passed Kendall Park.

"We could do the park, or would you rather go in the pool. Dad said you opened it last weekend and it isn't bad with the heater and all the nice weather you've had lately," Emily suggested.

"Both?" Nicole asked with an impish grin.

"Ok how about we go to the Park for a little while and then we'll see when dinner is and maybe get in a little pool time before dinner," Emily suggested.

"We could do pool after dinner?" Nicole said.

"Well after dinner Patrick and I are meeting a friend for dessert, but it's supposed to be nice again tomorrow so maybe sometime tomorrow afternoon," Emily said.

"Are you going to see Cameron's mommy?" Nicole asked.

"No, why sweetie?" Emily said.

"Well she is one of your friends right?" Nicole asked.

"Yes, of course Elizabeth is one of my oldest friends actually but we hadn't planned to see her tonight," Emily said.

"Maybe you should, Mommy and I saw her in the grocery store and she looked sad," Nicole said nonchalantly.

"Well I think Elizabeth is struggling with some difficult decisions right now," Emily explained as they returned home.

In the end they did go to the park and then spent almost an hour in the pool mostly just playing but Nicole broke into perfect undulating dolphin butterfly strokes a few times amazing Patrick with her prowess. At six o'clock they sat down with Emily's parents, grandfather, Katelyn, Nicole and Kirk. Kirk's anticipated weekend guest had been unable to come after all. Alan gave the blessing and dinner began with the family eating and chatting.

"Mom, this is delicious," Emily extolled when there was a lull in conversation.

"Thank you dear," Monica returned.

"Yes, it's very good Monica," Alan said wiping his mouth. "Did AJ mention why he couldn't join us?" he asked. Usually AJ and Keesha joined the family for Friday night dinners. A tradition Alan hoped Emily and Patrick would incorporate as well, although he realized that their time would probably be more limited by their hospital call responsibilities.

"He and Keesha were going to visit her grandmother this weekend," Monica said.

"Perhaps this will give them an opportunity to discuss everything," Alan said optimistically in a way that made Emily realize he must also know about the pregnancy. She wondered how he had found out and then realized that likely her mother had informed Keesha she couldn't keep the secret from Alan but would swear him to secrecy. She shuddered the whole thing was messed up.

"Perhaps," Monica said noncomittally.

"Would it be alright if Kortni spent the night tonight?" Katelyn asked reaching for a roll.

"If it's alright with her parents, do you have practice tomorrow morning?" Monica asked.

"Yes, at ten not a huge deal for me since I have swim practice at four anyway. Everyone else was complaining because I guess last year they didn't have Saturday practices but Kortni says they had a lot of Saturday meets and we really haven't this year," Katelyn explained.

"Are you still running a Distance Medley at Penn Relays?" Emily asked.

"Yes, I guess scariness I'm sure. Kortni said it was a huge deal last year but they were like third I think so they got these cool medals and stuff," Katelyn explained.

"Are you anchoring?" Edward asked joining the conversation.

"I guess, we aren't completely sure who is on the team, I know it's me and Kortni, I guess she's starting and then the four hundred is Monique Jackson and who the eight hundred leg is hasn't been determined. In fact I think at our next meet they are having a run-off," Katelyn said.

"Penn Relays are fun. The crowd is like electric and it's scary at first but it's cool too, we did DMR my freshman, and junior and senior years. I ran the 3K my sophomore year and we did 4x800 relay that year," Emily explained.

"She won the 3K that year too, and then they won the DMR her junior and senior years," Edward told Patrick proudly.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing, I was fortunate she slowed down to let me catch up," Patrick joked.

"Yes that's my granddaughter," Edward continued proudly.

"Seriously Katelyn it's more fun than scary you'll see. Your relay team should do really well too," Emily encouraged.

"Grandfather and I are making signs and everything," Nicole said proudly.

"Uhhh great, I think," Katelyn joked.

"Well seriously Katelyn the other kids are just jealous of your fan club," Patrick said.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Edward beamed. "You know Alan maybe you were right Patrick is a fine addition to the family," Edward agreed.

"Wait is grandfather actually like approving of someone dating one of his granddaughters," Kirk quipped.

"Miracles never cease, perhaps there is hope for Chip," Katelyn quipped.

"There would be more hope for Chip if he would realize that his parents gave him a decent name and it wasn't Chip," Edward retorted.

"Dare I ask what his real name is?" Patrick asked.

"Curtis Alexander Blesdoe, and no offense but I might go by Chip too if I was named that," Kirk answered for his sister.

"There is nothing wong with that name," Edward intoned.

"Ok on that happy note, is anyone ready for dessert?" Monica asked.

"Actually we're going to Brenda's for dessert but we'll help you clean up first," Emily offered.

"You should have invited Brenda here, I haven't seen her in ages," Edward effused.

"Well it was kind of a last minute thing, I guess she just got back from her last photo shoot. It was pretty convenient we all ended up in town on the same weekend," Emily continued.

"Well remind her not to be a stranger here," Edward said.

"Is she still dating Cruz Castillo," Alan asked referring to one of Port Charles' Police Detectives.

"Honestly, and this is sad, I'm not sure. With her being in LA and the time difference and me having a few tough rotations we have kind of lost touch. It will be good to catch up tonight though," Emily admitted.

"Why don't you and Patrick go ahead and go then, I wouldn't want you to be late," Monica suggested.

"It's alright we can help clean up before we do," Emily said picking up her plate, Patrick's and starting to reach for Nicole's.

"Well then thank you Emily. Many hands make light work," Monica said reaching for the remaining lasagna and starting towards the kitchen. Everyone else followed suit and soon the food had been put away, the dishes loaded in the dishwasher and the table linens changed. Everyone else had opted to have dessert on the patio by the pool and Monica lingered a moment to say goodbye to her daughter.

"Have a nice time with Brenda tonight, and perhaps invite her to come for dinner one night this week," Monica suggested.

"Thank you, Mom?" Emily hesitated but trusted her instincts.

"Yes dear," Monica said.

"Somehow I have a little bit of a bad feeling about this," Emily admitted.

"What do you mean honey?" Monica asked.

"I don't know I just kind of feel like someone I care about is in trouble. I'm not sure if that's Brenda or maybe someone else," Emily admitted.

"Would the someone else be your cousin?" Monica asked.

"Honestly I'm not completely sure, but perhaps," Emily admitted.

"Well please call us if you need anything, or if we can help in anyway. Jason is still family even if he chooses to not remember that, and your father and I both care deeply about Brenda as well," Monica finished giving her daughter a hug before joining the rest of the family on the patio.

Emily dashed upstairs, brushed her teeth, brushed out her mane a few times and then resecured the pink headband she had controlling her tresses, and applied a little lip gloss. Figuring the night would be getting chillier once the sun went down she grabbed a pink sweater that went well with the pink and lavendar plaid sleeveless dress she had put on for dinner after her post pool shower. Patrick was finding a clean pair of slacks after his little misadventure with the salad dressing at dinner. Waiting for Patrick she sunk down onto her bed, she had unpacked everything while waiting for Nicole to change before the park so she could go right to sleep upon returning. She had a feeling that might be exactly what she needed to do.

"Are you ready?" Patrick asked appearing in her open doorway.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Emily said standing, reaching for the purse she had selected to match her outfit and joining Patrick.

Patrick embraced her as they walked down the stairs. "You really look beautiful Emily," he whispered.

"Thank you," Emily said smiling at him.

They reached Brenda's house a little before 7:30. "Well I guess we aren't going to be late after all," Patrick stated.

"No I suppose not," Emily said uneasily undoing her seatbelt and starting to open the passengar side door. Patrick got out and took her hand as they went up Brenda's walk.

"Kiss for luck?" Patrick suggested.

Emily answered him with a quick but warm kiss and then rang the doorbell a little surprised Brenda hadn't already greeted them at the door. Oh well she figured, they were a little early. However, the door was opened by Jason and they walked into the foyer. Emily looked at her cousin a little warily wondering where Brenda was. "Hello Jason," Emily began.

"Thanks for coming Em," Jason said basically ignoring the man standing behind her.

"Jason, this is my fiance Dr. Patrick Drake. Patrick I think you remember Jason from grandmother's funeral right?" Emily began.

"Yes, it is good to see you again Jason," Patrick said extending his hand and shaking Jason's firmly.

"I think we're missing our hostess, with the mostess," Emily joked. Although she was wondering if Jason had lied to her about Brenda even being in town. She didn't think he would actually do that though. In spite of some of his poor choices and failings Emily really couldn't recall a time he had lied to her.

"Em, may I speak with you for a minute?" Jason asked stepping away from Patrick.

"Jason, anything you can say to me you can say in front of Patrick. We're going to be married in less than two months and we don't keep secrets from each other," Emily said as Patrick wrapped an arm around her.

"Well, it's more for Brenda's sake, Emily, please," Jason said giving her the stern yet soft look with his blue eyes that usually convinced her to aquiescence. But somehow that couldn't happen this time Emily sensed.

"Where is Brenda anyway?" Emily asked.

"She really isn't feeling too well right now," Jason began.

"I'm sorry, should we come back another time? Or did you just want to tell us what is bothering you perhaps," Emily suggested.

"I called you for Brenda, Em.." Jason began.

"Ok, so what's up? Seriously if we should come back another time we can," Emily offered uneasily. Somehow leaving seemed wrong.

"No, I think she needs you now. She's really not doing well, she's not eating, she's lost a lot of weight, it's bad," Jason said and Emily could feel the fear and uncertainty in his voice.

Jason's words tumbled around in Emily's head, was he implying she was just sick or did she have an eating disorder? Brenda had always been thin, but she modeled so of course her figure was kind of a career prerequisite. Sure there had been moments over the years when she had wondered if something was going on when Brenda refused to join her in her pixie stick indulgences, of course Emily couldn't really claim those were healthy but when you ran fifty or sixty mile weeks as she had throughout the latter part of high school, all of college and even most weeks in medical school a few empty calories were really not a big deal. After all if you preceded your pixie sticks with a nice spinach salad and some pasta it could almost be a balanced meal Emily had rationalized. "Are you implying what I think you're implying Jason?" Emily finally asked.

"Oh come on Em, you know she's anorexic, and yes it's bad again," Jason said frustrated.

"What? No I didn't know that, ok so I've wondered and suspected at times but I didn't know that," Emily said.

"Really?" Jason asked.

"Yes, really," Emily said.

"I'm sorry I just figured you knew, Brenda wanted me to call you so I just figured," Jason admitted.

"Well I didn't ok, perhaps Brenda and I have also grown apart a little, not to the degree we have I suppose," Emily said sadly.

"Well things haven't been really bad for at least four years. She had problems when she and Jax were together but then Sonny kind of helped her fix things I guess when they were together and really she had been so much better," Jason said.

"So what changed?" Emily asked.

"I'm not sure, she called me last week and told me that they had finished everything and she was going to come home. I guess she sounded a little down but I kind of miss that stuff most of the time, and well she called me a few days later and basically was crying on the phone. So I went out and got her, she's trying to eat I think but she just can't," Jason said.

"Well what do the doctors say? I mean maybe she needs to do one of those inpatient programs to at least get things stabilized," Emily suggested.

Jason was silent. "Jason, you have taken her to the doctor right?," Emily asked incredulously.

"Well, no, listen don't start Emily she wanted to try to do it on her own," Jason said.

"Well Jase if she's not able to eat that kind of isn't working now is it? She's probably incredibly dehydrated which is probably just making eating harder actually. You know calling mom last week, or well any doctor might have been a good idea," Emily said.

"I'm not going to force Brenda to be hospitalized," Jason said.

"Well I completely agree that she needs to be the one to accept help, but honestly if she's been starving for awhile maybe she's having a hard time realizing what she really wants to do. She called you, I consider that reaching out. May I see her?" Emily asked releasing herself from Patrick's embrace. He sensed her need to see her friend alone and stepped back after planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Yeah, I'm just warning you, it is bad," Jason began leading Emily through the house to master bedroom.

Emily crept across the dim room. "Brenda," she whispered laying a hand on her friend's forehead.

Brenda's eyelids fluttered and when she opened them they still had that alluring sparkle, "Emily," she said.

"Jason says you aren't feeling too well," Emily began brush a little hair out of her friend's face.

"Not really, I guess I'm just really weak," Brenda admitted. Her voice was so faint and she seemed to struggle with the words. She was also shivering, Emily noted under the multiple quilts.

"Are you cold?" Emily asked.

"A little," she whispered.

"Here," Emily opened the blanket chest at the foot of the bed and pulled the final blanket and then covered her friend.

"Thanks," Brenda whispered.

"I think you need to be in the hospital," Emily said gently.

"Yeah, maybe," Brenda said not quite meeting her eyes.

"Well at least maybe some IV fluids and fix your electrolytes in the ER. It might make eating a little easier too," Emily suggested. "Would you like me to call my mom?" she offered.

"Maybe you should, I'm sorry," Brenda stumbled on her words.

"Don't be, I just want you to feel better, Ok?" Emily said.

"I didn't mean for it to get so bad," Brenda said.

"Of course not. You're going to feel better after some IV fluids and stuff. Your pulse is so slow, like 30-40, " Emily commented randomly.

"It feels weird though, like I can feel it beating in my chest," Brenda said.

"Yeah, it's kind of irregular but I bet that is electrolytes or maybe from you being so cold. Will you let us call an ambulance?" Emily asked.

"No, please just let Jason take me ok?" her eyes flashed a little with that and warily Emily looked back at her as she pulled her cell from her purse and initiated her call.

Kirk went to get her mother and Emily heard concern in her mother's voice, "Hi Emily is everything alright?" Monica asked.

"Not really, Brenda isn't feeling well, she's gotten in a a little over her head and Jason is going to take her to the ER, I'd rather she let us call an ambulance but could you meet us there?" Emily asked.

"Of course, I'll be right there. I love you sweetie," Monica said.

"Thank you mom," Emily said.

"My mom will meet us there, I'm going to tell Jason ok?" Emily said pulling the covers up around her friend.

"Emily?" Brenda said as she turned to go.

"Yes?"

"Thank you,".

"It's not a problem, I just want you to feel better," Emily said.

Emily re-entered the living room glad to see that Patrick and Jason hadn't killed each other. Actually they were sitting at opposite ends of the couch staring each other down. "Brenda would like you to take her to the ER, I called mom who is going to meet us there," Emily said.

"Are you sure?" Jason asked.

"Yes, Jason she isn't going to fix this. She's hypothermic and having bradyarrhythmias she needs IV fluids, probably a little potassium, and a warming blanket," Emily said.

"English?" Jason asked.

"She's freezing, her heart is doing weird things and slowing down she needs to be monitored and get rewarmed and rehydrated. We can discuss this more when she's there and some of this is happening." Emily said.

"Not to intrude but perhaps we should call an ambulance, I don't exactly keep a code cart in my trunk," Patrick suggested. Jason glared at him.

"Already suggested that, I was shot downand rather than argue with her and delay things further lets just go. Ok Jason this is where you get up and carry her to the car," Emily instruced.

Rotely her cousin did exactly that.


	7. Chapter 6: Must the Past Define Us?

For the Love of Family

Chapter 6: Must the Past Define Us?

Emily and Patrick arrived at General Hospital, they had opted to follow Jason in Patrick's car. Well or not follow Jason who was driving like a bat out of hll over eighty miles an hour. Patrick had tried to joke about him needing sirens and flashing lights but he had stopped when he saw the grim look of concern on Emily's face. "Can we hope that my mom got here before Jason and Brenda?" Emily suggested as Patrick pulled into the visitor's parking lot nearest the Emergency Department entrance.

"Well actually for your mother's sake perhaps we should hope that someone calmed your cousin prior to her arrival," Patrick suggested.

"Actually he's usually pretty good with her," Emily said recalling some of her cousin's more out of control episodes at General Hospital. She supposed it had started about nine years ago after Carly Benson Spencer Corinthos had given birth to her first child who she had claimed was Jason's son. In reality the child was actually the result of a drunken one night stand she and Port Charles Police Detective Taggert had had. At the time however she had been having an affair with Dr. Tony Jones and he had originally believed the child was his. He had divorced his wife who ironically was Carly's biological mother, Bobbie Spencer-Jones, a nurse at General Hospital and planned to marry Carly. Of course when Detective Taggert figured out what had happened he argued that perhaps the child was his. Desperately Carly had tried to claim that Jason was actually the father, and as her friend Jason had agreed to pretend. Of course mass pandemonium and chaos had ensued when the baby finally arrived and Carly had such significant hemorrhaging she had nearly needed a hysterectomy. Multiple other events had ensued over the years as the fallout of mob battles almost kept the General Hospital ED physicians and trauma surgeons in business. Emily supposed it could have been worse, and likely would have been if her uncle John had been living in Port Charles during all of it. However, John had only joined the Port Charles police force a year ago on a special assignment that had him reporting directly to Commissioner Scorpio. His wife Abby was a prosecutor for the District Attorney's Office. Their children sixteen year Adam Daniel and thirteen year old Riley Joseph attended Port Charles Junior and Senior High School with Katelyn.

As they walked into the hospital through the ED entrance Emily scanned the waiting room and found her cousin sitting in a bank of chairs near the wall mounted large screen television. "How is she?" Emily asked as they sat down beside him.

"I don't know they won't let me go back there and they won't tell me anything," Jason said glaring.

"Well I'm sure she's in good hands," Emily said.

Jason was silent. Emily felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Amy Vining R.N. standing to her right. "I was asked to bring you back when you arrived the doctors have some questions for you about your friend," Amy said.

Emily stood, her legs feeling a little wobbly. It had been a mistake to not have called the ambulance she feared. She followed Amy to the double doors that led into the Emergency Department and waited as she punched an access code. "Just Ms. Quartermaine," Amy said brusquely as the door closed in Jason and Patrick's face.

Jason punched the door angrily. Patrick regarded his fiancée's cousin uncomfortably. He was being abandoned with a mob hit man who was not having a great day. Wasn't his life grand he thought ironically. "Listen I'm going to go get some coffee from the cafeteria, I think it's going to be a long night. Would you like anything?" Patrick offered.

Jason glared at Patrick for a full minute, and then said "No,".

"Ok well I'll be back in a few minutes," Patrick said. As he walked away from Jason he breathed a sigh of relief. As he walked to the cafeteria he realized that in a few months he'd be on staff at the very hospital he was trying to escape his deranged cousin in law in. He realized if he was particularly unlucky he could be called upon to patch up the same deranged cousin or one of his fellow hitmen. Did hitmen have friends he wondered? Somehow that didn't really seem quite possible.

Meanwhile in the Emergency Department Emily held her friend's hand as she watched her mother place the subclavian central line in her left shoulder. Apparently the nurses had had difficulty placing IVs since Brenda was so dehydrated. Plus as her mother had explained giving calcium through a peripheral IV could be dangerous if the IV went bad during the infusion. As her mother sewed the line in place Emily chided herself realizing she was as much watching her mother's technique as she was comforting her friend. She really liked procedures, Patrick had tried to guide her into something surgical but that hadn't felt right, plus at least one of them had to not have the craziest call schedule. Still she supposed there was a good chance she'd end up doing either pediatric cardiology, neonatology, or pediatric intensive care all high procedural sub specialties of pediatrics, well and all with their own crazy call schedules. Her mother had done the combined Medicine-Pediatrics residency and then fellowships in Adult Cardiology, Pediatric Cardiology, and Interventional Cardiology. Emily had consider Medicine-Pediatrics but the combined program no longer existed at General Hospital and honestly she didn't like Internal Medicine enough.

"Now we're all done Brenda," Dr. Monica Quartermaine said finishing applying a sterile dressing over the central line site.

"Ok, so maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. You were right," Brenda admitted as one of the nurses came back in to switch the IV fluids over to run through the central line. "Well then can we take this one out? It really hurts," Brenda protested a little referring to the IV in her wrist.

"Now when your father and I were around your stage of the game we referred to that as the intern's vein Emily, it's the one you can usually hit if there really isn't anywhere else. It can be uncomfortable though but if you need access, you need access," Dr. Quartermaine recalled. "But yes Brenda we can take that out," she finished.

"I'll just grab some gauze and tape and I'll be right back to take care of that Ms. Barrett," nurse Laurel Preston promised.

"So I'm not going home tonight I guess," Brenda said resignedly.

"Did you really believe that was possible? It will probably take us at least twenty four hours just to correct your electrolytes and dehydration. Plus you need IV antibiotics for that kidney infection and then we can start to address the fact that you're going to need very close monitoring of your heart and electrolytes during the whole refeeding process. Honestly I think you're probably looking at needing at least a week or two with our hospitality," Dr. Quartermaine said.

"Well I guess not, but I didn't want to believe it was quite this bad. I really didn't mean for it to get this bad, I promise," Brenda said starting to cry.

"I know," Monica stopped and patted her shoulder, "But it has and you're taking a wonderful step by admitting that," Monica finished.

"I'm sorry," Brenda said glumly.

"Don't be sorry, but be motivated to work really hard towards getting better," Monica suggested. "Have you ever had any treatment for your eating disorder?" Monica asked.

"Kind of, I saw someone for awhile when I was living with Sonny on his island right after college, when everyone thought I was dead. Someone he hired, I guess it helped, I mean I came back and things were ok mostly. I was modeling and everything was ok, well alright I was going through massive drama with Jax and Sonny and well I guess even Jason but most of the time I could keep things together," Brenda said.

"What changed?" Emily asked curiously. She supposed it was probably none of her business but then Brenda had asked Jason to call her and had apparently told her mother that it was Emily she wanted there for moral support.

Brenda hesitated, she supposed it was a bunch of things. Of course the rape didn't help but it wasn't that simple. Julia's death didn't help, losing the only member of her biological family that had really cared for her at all had been hard. But it wasn't just that it was a lot deeper and darker than that. But she couldn't say that to Emily, somehow she couldn't deal with Emily hating her as much as she hated herself and she suspected she might if she knew the truth. "I was raped about a year ago, I guess maybe I just fell back into some old habits," Brenda said.

"Oh Brenda, I'm so sorry I really didn't know," Emily said.

"No, pretty much no one did, it was a random thing I guess, they actually caught the guy but oh I don't know..." Brenda's voice trailed off.

"Shhhh" Emily patted her shoulder, "You don't have to go through this if it's hard. I'll always listen but please don't feel like you owe me anything. I just want you to feel better," Emily said.

"You're going to get through this and heal Brenda, a lot of people care very much about you and we'll all be there as much as you need," Monica said just as the nurse returned to remove the IV.

"I'm going to go write some admission orders to get you upstairs to the progressive care unit," Monica said, "Would you like Jason to come back and stay with you now?" she offered.

"Yeah, I think so," Brenda said uncertainly.

Meanwhile in the cafeteria, while debating what kind of cheesecake to surprise Emily with since it didn't look like they would be getting their promised dessert after all, Patrick had run into an old friend. Well actually he supposed an old acquaintance was perhaps a more appropriate word he decided as he looked up from the dessert selection and met Robin Scorpio's eyes.

He supposed that Robin had mentioned growing up in Port Charles, NY at some point when she had been his medical student. However, like many of the things she had told him at the time he really hadn't given it much thought. He supposed he should say something to be polite, of course he figured based on Robin's prior opinion of him she probably didn't really expect him to be polite. Still he had grown up a bit from those residency days at Yale as he was sure she had as well. Or he presumed she had. "Robin? Robin Scorpio?" he asked.

Robin shuddered as Patrick Drake repeated her name. She hadn't really wanted to run into anyone she knew after the day she'd had, the fact that she was eating dinner in the hospital cafeteria at nine o'clock at night was never a good sign. Of course if she had been asked to provide a short list of people she really hadn't wanted to run into then she supposed that Dr. Patrick Drake would have at least made the top five. Or at least he would have five years ago, however, she supposed in recent years she'd kind of forgotten him and never would have imagined meeting him in the hospital cafeteria at General Hospital. She supposed she had to respond to him, although running screaming seemed honestly more appealing.

"Yes, hi Patrick it's certainly been awhile. I thought you took that position at Cornell or Columbia or wherever," Robin said.

"Cornell, and I did. However, my fiancée matched here in Pediatrics so I'm joining the medical staff here in July," Patrick explained.

"I see and did you just come by to make early friends with the nurses?" Robin retorted, then rebuked herself. What Patrick did in his personal life really wasn't now and probably never had been any of her business.

"Actually I'm in town to look at houses with my fiancee, one of her friends had the misfortune of ending up in the Emergency Department so we missed out on our dessert and well I recalled them having this scrumptious cheesecake from when I interviewed here a few months ago so here I am," Patrick realized that he was answering her question in a round about way.

"I'm sorry Patrick that probably wasn't really fair, your personal life is really none of my business," Robin said sheepishly.

"True, however, I've grown up a lot since we last worked together. I'm not looking for anyone, you see I've found her. Actually Robin you should meet her she's amazing you'd probably get along. I'll look you up after we're settled and we can do dinner some night. But on that note I must get back to her before, well I miss her too much," Patrick offered. He selected a large piece of marble cheesecake, picked up two forks, handed the cashier a ten and walked from the cafeteria.

"Wait, you forgot your change," Benny called after him but Patrick didn't hear.

"Oh I'm sure that Dr. Dogood Drake would want you to donate the change to sunshine fund," Robin quipped.

"Long day?" Benny asked.

"Very, can you get me a grilled cheese sandwich and fries?" Robin asked.

"To go?" Benny asked.

"How else?" Robin quipped.

When Patrick returned to the ED waiting room he found Emily sitting alone. Emily looked up as he sat down beside her, "Oooh cheesecake, and here I was wondering if you had just said you were going to the cafeteria to escape Jason's glare; I am sorry I left you with him. But I guess you actually went there," Emily joked.

"Ok well you were partly right, although I did actually go there and I had the complete small world experience by running into one of my former medical students. How is Brenda?" Patrick asked.

"Better, she's getting admitted but things are better. So is one of your medical students now a doctor here?" Emily asked.

"Yes, like I said small world," Patrick said.

"Who? I've met most of the newer additions to the medical staff because mom and dad usually invite them over for dinner," Emily said.

"Robin Scorpio, actually perhaps it isn't still Scorpio I didn't clarify that, but at least it was Robin Scorpio," Patrick admitted.

"Oh Robin, I didn't know you knew each other," Emily laughed.

"You know her?" Patrick asked.

"Yeah, she grew up mostly in Port Charles as well. Her uncle Mac Scorpio raised her while her parents were away, I guess they have some FBI connections or something. Her uncle is the police commissioner. She and Jason even dated for a little while, of course that didn't exactly work out but yeah I know Robin pretty well, and she and Brenda are pretty good friends," Emily said.

"Somehow I don't see Robin and Jason together," Patrick admitted.

"Well it was before she started medical school, and like I said I guess it really wasn't meant to be, although at the time I think my grandparents were hoping that she'd like lead him back to the good side or something. Well I guess they hoped that when he was dating Brenda too," Emily said wistfully.

"Was her uncle the police commissioner when they were dating?" Patrick asked.

"Yes, that kind of complicated things, but it wasn't just that, there was a lot of other stuff. I don't know this was awhile ago of course and I guess perhaps it's not polite for us to speculate on their failed relationship. But yeah Robin is cool, that's neat that you two were friends before," Emily said.

"Well I wouldn't exactly say we were friends, first I was her resident and she was one of my students, and I hadn't really had the benefits of my Emily Quartermaine growth experience then so I was probably a little chauvinistic and well I don't think she really appreciated that," Patrick admitted.

"Did you ever date her, sleep with her?" Emily asked. The question came out more crudely than she had intended. She and Patrick had discussed this before and he had admitted that he had gone through women easily and that unlike Emily he would not be a virgin on their wedding night. She truly believed he wasn't proud of some of his past choices and she had accepted what the past held but looked forward to the future. She knew that Patrick had not been with another woman since they had started dating and she also knew that he had made a point of being tested for HIV in preparation for their wedding night not wanting to in any way put her at risk because of his past choices. Of course fortunately he had tested HIV negative.

"No, I didn't, Robin was never interested in me it was as simple as that. Plus I think even then I wouldn't have done something like that, I mean sleeping with your medical students is something that is against most hospital policies and from a more extreme perspective some would argue is akin to rape. I'm not sure I'd go that far if it's also consensual and people of age of consent. But it is an unequal power structure which some would argue makes it hard for things to be truly consensual," Patrick admitted.

"Yeah, although I guess that you could kind of argue that with nurses and doctors," Emily said.

"Well yes but it's an even more extreme arguement there, I mean residents may have direct influence over medical student grades and recommendations and honestly if you were a dishonest jerk you could ruin someone's career. It's much harder to do that if you're random resident Joe Schmoe dealing with random nurses who you really have no power over them. I suppose though in an ideal world you keep your personal and professional lives completely separate. I mean if that other hospital that used to be in Port Charles was still operational some would say I should work there and you should do your residency here. But again I think that's taking it too far. I can love you and still be objective and professional if we need to work together. "

"You mean FernCliff just outside of Port Charles? It is still operational, but it's only a psychiatric hospital so you might need to change your career slightly," Emily said.

"No what is the one your dad was talking about that closed two years ago? I think it's now an outpatient office complex?" Patrick asked.

"Oh you mean Mercy? Well they were really small, and then they had a kind of corrupt CEO and they did some things that weren't really legal and were actually rather merciless with patients so perhaps even if they were still operational my dad would not really encourage you to do that," Emily said.

"Well ok, but you see my point, now are we going to eat this cheesecake or what?" Patrick asked.

"I was kind of thinking you would never ask," Emily laughed.


	8. Chapter 7: Reflections

_There are probably parts of this where I'm rewriting history a little more because if there seemed to be major gaps or things that didn't make sense I filled them in or "fixed them". I also tend to fill in back story so you could read this having never heard of the characters and wouldn't be completely lost, but that makes this a heavy chapter without much action. I probably should try to break it up more and I'm open to suggestions on how to do that?_

_Also the whole Carly & Sonny, Jason & Brenda pairing is still somewhat in limbo. As Brenda's character develops we'll learn that she has a lot of guilt about choices she's made and her relationship with Sonny is a critical component of that. Her guilt stems not only from her part in Sonny's infidelity to Lily and her subsequent death but also knowing what Sonny does is wrong and seeing herself as an accomplice of sorts even though she's never (at least in my fan fiction) really had any direct or indirect involvement in his business. Given all of that Jason seems an unlikely pairing for her but like Emily she recalls both who Jason Morgan was and also who he is. It's been alluded that she is dating PCPD Detective Cruz Rodriguez and I'll probably explore that relationship as well and whether it's really workable or if it's merely an attempt to assuage her guilt over her past relationship with a mob boss. As far as Sonny & Carly at least from Sonny's soliloquy in this chapter we'll see that perhaps Brenda's choices will impact on them as well. Carly fans will probably hate me after this chapter because of Sonny's reflections on how damaged she truly is but I think that's a reality in her character development and only on television can she just scrap it suddenly become mom of the year. In reality however, she can recognize that she has issues, work to address them and well in general grow up. We'll see if that is accomplished over the course of this and if it is would pairing her with Sonny even work? Would/could he change too? Who does Carly truly belong with? Honestly I don't have the answers I'm going to kind of consider my story a thought experiment and see where it goes. I'd be interested in readers' thoughts on any of these questions or pairing perspectives etc..._

_BlueJayGal--Thanks for your review, I agree that the Quartermaines while majorly improved should not be perfect and I think as the story evolves more you'll see they are not. There are allusions to that in Monica stating her regrets over shutting her husband out a different difficult times in her life as she reflects on Keesha's secret. Additionally I think they both give a lot of credit to Alan's parents who have stepped and helped with their children which made it easier for them to have children and high stress time consuming careers. As far as Emily and Patrick I think their greatest challenges lay ahead as they're both going to face huge changes in the next six months as Emily starts her residency, they marry, Patrick adjusts to a new hospital etc. This will test their marriage and there will definitely be some conflict as their marriage is impacted by Patricks reuniting with his father and Emily's continued struggles with Jason. _

_Isabella Ava--Thanks :) I've really worked on the character development but I think I still have a lot to build in Patrick and Emily's relationship. We're building up to their wedding ceremony in June and then we'll see when their actual marriage becomes real. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 7: Reflections

Emily awoke, around seven-thirty, the next morning to sun streaming through her bedroom window and the sounds of Katelyn and Nicole coming home from early morning swim practice. All of the children's rooms were in the east wing of the upstairs with the west wing housing her parents and grandparents master bedroom suites and several guest suites. Patrick was sleeping in what had once been her older sister Allison's room, but had now been fashioned into one of three guestrooms in their wing. Emily smiled a little reflecting on the sleeping arrangements. All of the childrens' rooms had been set up in pairs that shared an adjoining bathroom within the pair. AJ and Allison's old rooms had been awkward guestroom concepts as they shared bathrooms with Kirk and Emily's rooms respectively. The first few times Patrick had come home with Emily her mother had put him in what had been AJ's old room, but for some reason after their engagement she had allowed him to move into what had once been Allison's room. The irony of the whole situation was that Emily realized that it hadn't been her mother's reluctance to let him share a bathroom with her chaste daughter, but perhaps her reluctance to expose an outsider to their pain. It was much easier to put him in the room of their oldest son now married and living across town with his wife, than the old room of their oldest daughter who had lost her battle with lymphoma. Patrick had become a part of their family when they were engaged and that felt right.

"Shhh, we're going to wake Emily up, Mom said she was up late and we were supposed to be quiet," Emily heard Katelyn say in typical older sister.

"I'm not being that loud," Nicole protested.

"You're singing Nicole," Katelyn quipped.

Laughing Emily hopped out of bed and opened the door to see her sisters about to walk into their respective rooms. "I'm awake, good morning!" she said brightly.

"I'm sorry Em, did we wake you? We were kind of forgetting we weren't alone, usually this is our wing to rule, and even when Kirk is home he sleeps through anything and everything," Katelyn began apologetically.

"Actually, no I was already awake," Emily said thinking that she truly had awoken to the sunshine moments before hearing the opening strains of Nicole and Katelyn's song.

"See!" Nicole began redeemed.

"Well Patrick is probably still asleep so we should probably keep it down," Katelyn suggested.

"Good point, and Patrick has had a very rough week and needs a morning to sleep in and catch up and we're not meeting Carly until 12:30 so this a good opportunity for that," Emily suggested.

"You're meeting Carly Corinthos? Voluntarily?" Katelyn asked.

"She's our real estate agent, we're going to look at houses this afternoon, we didn't exactly choose her but apparently the other agents at her agency were busy or something," Emily explained.

"Well I know we're supposed to be respectful of people's parents and stuff but she's not a very nice person," Katelyn said.

"She's Morgan's mom right?" Nicole said.

"Yes, and obviously Carly has made some choices in the past that I would hope we'd never make but still she is human and I'm sure the whole divorce thing has been traumatic for her," Emily said.

"I guess, and at least Michael doesn't swim anymore and Morgan is no longer in Nicole's pre-school class so we really don't see them much anymore," Katelyn admitted.

"Michael swam?" Emily asked. Somehow she had missed that part, although she really hadn't been too updated on Michael's life after Carly had no longer needed her cousin Jason. Once Carly had started dating and then married mob boss Michael "Sonny" Corinthos Carly had arranged to have her husband adopt her child and informed Jason he no longer needed to be a stand in dad. Emily knew that had hurt her cousin deeply as he had formed a bond during the two years that they had been together. She suspected it had also hurt Michael, she realized that perhaps Carly's understanding of attachments and family had been warped by her own childhood experiences but she didn't feel that completely absolved her of all responsibility from treating her children more as property extensions of herself.

"For almost a year last year, I guess Mr. Corinthos thought it was a good idea. He wasn't very fast, he was slower than a lot of the under eight girls, not just Nicole but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Mr. and Mrs. Corinthos would have like World War III type battles at our meets and then Michael would take out his frustrations on the younger kids and well some of us don't like seeing our little sisters used as punching bags," Katelyn said.

"Michael hit you?" Emily asked in shock.

"Only a few times. Maybe I was being annoying, that was what Mrs. Corinthos said at the time," Nicole said deflecting her eyes downward.

Emily pulled her youngest sister into her arms, "Nikki look at me, you're not annoying, and no one has the right to hurt you and make you feel like it was somehow your fault. Michael was wrong and if he had a more reasonable mother she would have helped him understand that rather than allowing him to excuse away his behavior," Emily said getting very angry. She knew her words were somewhat implied by her recent conversation with Liz. She would hate to see her little sister ever grow up and find herself in a similar situation. Even worse though would be Nicole staying in that dangerous situation. She offered a silent prayer to God to give Liz the strength to do the right thing.

"That's kind of what mom and dad said. Daddy even went and talked to Mr. Corinthos, and then Michael stopped swimming and then the year was over and Morgan didn't skip kindergarten so he wasn't in my class anymore and really this year has been much better," Nicole said.

"I'm glad. I feel like a bad sister that I was oblivious all of this was going on though," Emily said.

"Well we didn't want to make a big deal out of it, Mr. Corinthos said that was what daddy was doing. Also you aren't a bad sister," Nicole explained.

"No you're not Em, I think maybe mom didn't mention it because she knew how much you adored Michael when he was younger, he's a different little boy now, but then I think that has something to do with who is raising him," Katelyn explained.

"Well when Carly and Jason were pretending that Michael was their son I babysat a lot and yes I thought Michael was adorable. I'm sure that everything that has happened in the past six years has been hard for Michael though. I'm sorry to hear he isn't dealing with it well and that rather than trying to help him his parents are pretending his problems don't exist," Emily said.

"Yeah I remember playing with Michael a few times and stuff before everyone found out that Jason wasn't really his father. Of course Michael wasn't even three then so I'm not sure if he remembers any of that. I kind of wonder if he feels like his real dad abandoned him by letting Mr. Corinthos adopt him," Katelyn wondered.

"Who was his real dad?" Nicole asked.

"Detective Taggert, but I guess he agreed to let Mr. Corinthos adopt him when he married Carly almost six years ago. I never really understood why it had to work that way, I mean Marc's parents are divorced and his mom remarried but he still has his dad," Katelyn explained.

"Well Marc's parents probably still have a little shared respect and obviously both care about him, I think things were pretty tense between the three of them six years ago and perhaps Mr. Taggert really believed that just opting out of Michael's life was the only way to avoid Michael constantly being in the middle," Emily said. She supposed that was possible although she actually presumed that Sonny had had something to hold over Detective Taggert and had coerced him to relinquish his parental rights. She didn't know what exactly that was and she supposed it was none of her business. She had never asked Jason, although she usually didn't. Plus she knew how hurt Jason was by the whole scenario, and how difficult it had been for him to relinquish his place in Michael's life. Emily remembered how bewildered Jason had been through that whole process, and how he couldn't understand how his world had turned upside down. But Emily had understood just not known exactly how to explain it to her cousin diplomatically. Jason being a major part of Michael's life was no longer convenient for Carly so since it was always about her she had stopped it. Because the truth was it was always about Carly, Emily thought with a shudder.

"But Morgan just turned six, he's older than I am," Nicole said innocently.

"Well Nicole sometimes people have babies before they are married, it's not ideal but it happens sometimes and I guess it did in Morgan's parents case," Katelyn said.

"Oh," Nicole said innocently.

"Anyway I'm starving let's go eat breakfast first and then we'll shower later on second thought," Katelyn suggested starting to head back towards the stairs.

"Do I still get the first shower if we go eat breakfast first?" Nicole asked.

"Yes," Katelyn said in a bored tone.

"I'll be down in a minute let me throw on some clothes," Emily said starting back into her room. She quickly pulled a sports bra, underwear, socks, a t-shirt, long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of spandex shorts from her dresser, dressed hurriedly, pulled her hair back into a pony tail, and as an afterthought made her bed then darted downstairs to join her sisters. She intended to let Patrick sleep, she had meant what she had told Katelyn, it had been a rough week for him. As weeks often were when he had more than one call in the week. Something she realized would continue to happen when he joined the medical staff at General Hospital.

After breakfast on the patio, Nicole went to shower while Emily and Katelyn hung out and chatted with their parents. "I can give Katelyn a ride to track practice," Emily offered when both of her parents reflected on their need to go make hospital rounds.

"Will you run with us also then?" Katelyn asked.

"Maybe what are you doing?" Emily returned.

"Distance--like seven or eight miles, then drills, strides, and weights. We had another dual meet that we kind of trained through on Thursday and then did a tempo yesterday," Katelyn explained.

"Oh yeah if you're doing distance I'll run with you," Emily agreed.

"Coolness...Mr. Hawkins will be psyched to see you I'm sure," Katelyn said as their parents excused themselves to head to the hospital.

"He's a good guy," Emily agreed.

"Yeah, I know a lot of kids kind of don't last because well track can be hard if you work at it. Plus he's pretty unforgiving if you're doing alcohol or drugs," Katelyn said.

"Which shouldn't be a problem right?" Emily said.

"No," Katelyn said quickly.

Too quickly? Emily wondered. "Kate?"

"What?" Katelyn said.

"Is there more you wanted to say?" Emily asked uneasily.

"No, I'm not stupid Em, I'm not going to something like that," Katelyn said.

"Well I don't think people always plan it out to be stupid. It's more making bad choices, sometimes to cover other pain," Emily explained.

"You aren't speaking from experience right?" Katelyn asked.

"Not in the context of alcohol or drugs no. I mean I still haven't had my first drink seriously ever, people laugh when I say that but I guess if you plan on not drinking until you're twenty one then somehow the novelty wears off or something. Actually I probably would have had a ceremonious drink on my birthday but I was on call that night and then Patrick was and then life kind of took over and well it's I guess never happened. But I guess what I'm saying is that I've certainly made some unintelligent choices in life, some of the anger I dished out at mom and dad, there are definitely things I'm not proud of," Emily explained.

"Well we all have that, I guess it's kind of relevant to our earlier conversation about Mrs. Corinthos," Katelyn suggested.

"You're right it is and we really don't have the right to judge," Emily agreed. "Although having a different real estate agent, well that might be nice," Emily quipped just as Nicole joined them with still wet hair.

"The shower is now free," Nicole said giggling.

"Awesome, I'm off to shower, maybe Emily will help you comb the tangles out of your hair," Katelyn suggested hopping up from the table.

"Sure, let me just load the dishwasher first because Ashley has the weekend off apparently," Emily said taking removing the final plates from the patio and then leading her sister back into the kitchen through the french doors.

"Actually why don't you go pick out hair ribbons and I'll braid your hair too," Emily suggested.

"Yay!!" Nicole squealed scampering out of the kitchen nearly colliding with her grandfather.

"Where is the fire?" Edward Quartermaine asked.

"I'm braiding her hair, I guess it's an occasion," Emily joked.

"Braids are traditional, much better than navel rings, tattoos, and overdyed hair, As fair as I'm concerned she can have braids forever," Edward said.

"Well you do realize she's going to grow up Grandfather? I mean it happens," Emily said.

"I'm opting to forget that at the moment, plus she's my five and under perspective for the new playground. We're meeting with the designer this afternoon," Edward said referring the indoor playground that her grandfather was designing and donating to the new pediatrics wing of General Hospital. Some might think that he was doing it in honor of his granddaughter starting her pediatrics residency at General Hospital, and Emily supposed that might play a tiny role. But honestly she knew that her grandfather was really just a big kid inside, not something she planned on mentioning at his next ELQ board meeting or anything but she'd seen him when he'd been involved with and well honestly taken over the playground renovation project at Nicole's elementary school.

"So you can look at jungle gyms while we look at houses. Patrick and I are meeting Carly Corinthos at 12:30," Emily said.

"Do not let her sell you anything that her husband has ever owned. You never know what you might dig up in your backyard when starting a garden," her grandfather said.

"I think he's actually her soon to be ex-husband, and doesn't he usually give people cement shoes and put them in the Port Charles River, or is that just in the movies?" Emily quipped.

"The sad thing is your cousin probably knows the answers to that question and more," Edward said and Emily could see the pain in his eyes.

"Maybe in time Jason will realize that he's turned into everything he was once against, ok maybe not but I have to pray he will someday. It's all I can do grandfather," Emily said.

"I suppose it's all any of us can do," Edward admitted sadly.

Meanwhile, in Harborview Towers, perhaps with his ears burning Sonny Corinthos was beginning his day lingering over a cup of coffee a little after nine. He admitted the penthouse had felt empty since Carly and the boys had moved out months ago after he had learned about his wife's affair with financier Jasper Jacks, or "CandyBoy" as Sonny had referred to him with distaste. Originally Carly and the boys had moved in with Candy Boy and they had planned to marry but Sonny had had his newest attorney dragging her feet on the divorce Carly wanted and ironically CandyBoy had ended up in his own little affair with Alexis Davis.

Alexis also happened to have been Sonny's attorney in the past. They had at one time had a strong friendship and out of one night of passion had come their daughter Kristina Adela Corinthos-Davis. Of course Sonny had not realized the little girl was his until she was three years old and diagnosed with aplastic anemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. Alexis had been dating Ned Ashton, Family Court Judge Tracey Quartermaine-Grabler's oldest son from her first marriage and Alexis had allowed everyone to believe the child was his. Ironically it was Sonny's affair that saved Kristina's life as she received a cord blood transplant from a miscarried child that resulted from a one night stand Sonny and Samantha McCall had. His best friend and mob enforcer Jason Morgan had been dating Sam at the time however, so things had been tense. Sam and Jason had separated and reconciled multiple times over the years but were currently apart. Sonny had worked to build a relationship with Kristina but it had been difficult since he had missed out on over three years of her life. Although he perhaps understood Alexis' desire especially as an officer of the courts to protect her daughter from his mob roots on a personal level he had not quite forgiven her decision. Still after hearing about Alexis' new relationship he had expected Carly to have come back to him. Instead she had moved into her own house, was now selling real-estate, and vowed that she was going to become independent. Sonny admittedly found that slightly amusing, as independence wasn't a pattern he had ever truly seen in Carly. She might have made it look good in the past but Sonny knew that it was all really a front and she had merely done a good job of picking and choosing the right men to manipulate to doing her bidding. Sonny took another sip of his coffee and wondered why given how unhealthy their relationship had been in the past did he really want to continue down the road to insanity with Carly.

Carly, or truly Caroline Benson, had come to Port Charles a little over ten years ago looking for her birth mother Bobbie Spencer Jones. Of course instead of being honest in her intentions she passed herself off as Carly Roberts and began an affair with her mother's husband Dr. Tony Jones. When she became pregnant Dr. Jones did what he thought to be the honorable thing and left his wife and son Lucas to marry Carly and give their child a name. Unfortunately for Carly things weren't quite as storybook ending because she had also slept with another man, one of the PCPD's finest Detective Taggert and in time he came to realize that the child could be his. In the end Carly ended up alone, and desperately crying on the doorstep of his mob enforcer Jason Morgan. Jason agreed to pretend that the child was his and the baby, Michael was born in March. Somehow instead of actually doing paternity testing Taggert and moronic Dr. Jones figured the child couldn't actually be theirs based on the baby's blood type. As the baby had B and Dr. Jones had A and Taggert had O. Of course the child was actually Taggerts as the baby received the B allele from his mother who had blood type AB. Jason largely raised Michael for the first year of his life as Carly struggled with post partum depression and then was in the local psychiatric hospital FernCliff after shooting Dr. Jones during his trial for kidnapping her son.

When Carly returned to Port Charles she and Sonny had a pretty antagonistic relationship but were often thrown together as they were both very important to Jason Morgan. They had proven that you did not need love to have sex and had one night stand shortly towards the end of that year. Sonny had regretted his actions at the time as he realized how deeply it had hurt Jason, although Jason did not have romantic feelings for Carly. Unfortunately Carly had become pregnant and Sonny knew he needed to do the right thing and they had planned to marry. Sharing a child had drawn them closer and much of the antagony in their relationship had dissolved. Of course then she had miscarried the baby and returned to living with Jason, and had another breakdown which Sonny had originally attributed to the miscarriage of course he had learned at a later date that Carly had witnessed his night of passion with Alexis Davis and felt betrayed.

Throughout all of this Jason had been dating Robin Scorpio. Sonny had known Robin longer than all of the others as she had at one time been much like a little sister to him when she had been dating Stone Cates a boy Sonny had rescued from the streets. Unfortunately Stone had died from HIV a few months before Carly had ever arrived in town or Jason returned to town. Robin who had been attending college at Harvard had opted to transfer to PCU for her last semester knowing that the end was likely near for Stone and wanting to spend whatever time they had left together. Stone had died right after Christmas that year and Robin had grieved somewhat aimlessly.

When Jason had returned to Port Charles after his parents were killed in a drunk driving accident that left him severely brain damaged he and Robin had a quite mournful friendship that ultimately led to a romantic relationship. Sonny had been happy for them as their love blossomed. Robin had started medical school that fall, but she had returned over the summer and she and Jason had raised Michael together while Carly was institutionalized. Robin had been one of the only people besides Carly, Jason, and Sonny who knew the truth about Michael's parentage and ultimately during Michael's second summer she had felt obligated to tell Detective Taggert the truth. At that point Jason considered her actions the ultimate betrayal and it ended their relationship. It had also opened a Pandora's box of problems as Detective Taggert petitioned for custody, but Sonny had managed to have the case diverted out of the district to a court where the judge was under his influence and then he had arranged for Detective Taggert's disappearance. Carly had appreciated his help and they had started to rebuild something of a relationship. When Carly became pregnant again with his child they had planned to marry but first he had been distracted with interfering in his former girlfriend, model Brenda Barrett's impending marriage to annoying Jasper Jacks. Then Carly was kidnapped by his deranged half brother Ric Lansing and gave birth to their son Morgan Stone Corinthos while in captivity in February of the following year. Sonny had found and rescued her although she had been wounded in the crossfire but they did finally marry in April that year and Sonny coerced Detective Taggert to allow him to adopt Carly's oldest son Michael that May. They were all set to become a family but Sonny had still had lingering thoughts about Brenda and Carly had an affair with illegal arms dealer Lorenzo Alcazar.

In October Sonny and Brenda disappeared and lived on his island for over a year. Honestly it was one of the happiest times of his life. He was truly with the woman who loved him and his intended soul mate. Away from Port Charles they had also been away from the painful memories and guilt of the past. Especially everything involving Sonny's first wife Lily Riverra-Corinthos. Lily had been a friend who Sonny had been coerced into marrying because her father was powerful mob boss. In the end Sonny had regretted the decision and had planned to return to Brenda, however, when Lily had told him she was pregnant with their child he knew it was wrong to leave her. However, her father had planted a bomb in their car intended for Sonny but it had killed Lily instead. After Lily's death Brenda and Sonny both had felt too guilty to be together which had led to the beginning of Brenda's relationship with Jasper Jax.

However, when the mob wars got out of control Sonny and Brenda were forced to return to reality over a year later in February of 2003. In time Brenda returned to the CandyBoy and Carly and Sonny renewed their vows that summer. Since then Carly and Sonny had split and reconciled multiple times. Brenda had seemingly finally split from the CandyBoy for good and after a brief relationship with Jason which had torn at Sonny's heart, even though it had occurred while he was supposedly with Carly, Brenda had started traveling a lot more for modeling and was he believed dating another PCPD detective, Cruz Rodriguez.

Sonny reflected on all of the past and then wondered what it meant for the future. Where was his future? Was it with Carly? Brenda? A large part of him wanted to reconcile with Carly because of their children, and because of his faith, and the Catholic church's perspective on divorce. After all she was his wife. He loved their boys like nothing else. Michael couldn't have been more his son if he had been his blood. With a final gulp of his coffee Sonny vowed they needed to work out their differences for the children. His own father had left when he was young and his mother had remarried a cop, Deke Robbins who had been abusive to her and him. He would never want that life for Michael or Morgan. He and Carly needed to fix things.

Just then the door opened and he heard the squeals of his sons, "Daddy, Daddy," Michael and Morgan clamored running across the tile. Had Carly come to her senses Sonny wondered. Carly came in behind them, "Leticia has the weekend off and I need to show a house at 12:30 so I'm leaving them with you," Carly announced. Sonny refrained from commenting on her poor planning, he was excited about having the chance to spend time with the boys Carly had not been allowing them to visit as much as he would have wanted. His attorney was working on Sonny getting full custody but Sonny knew there was no way that would happen if the case went before Tracey Quartermaine-Grabler, of course he doubted that Carly was exactly a canidate for mother of the year either, and his attorney was trying to get the whole custody matter moved out of district so they could avoid Judge Quartermaine-Grabler.

"Of course, we'll have nice day won't we boys? We can go to the warehouse and then we'll take a picnic to the park and play soccer or something," Sonny suggested. He tried to sound gratuitous but it was hard because as much as he wanted to reconcile with Carly, scrap the whole divorce thing, and raise their children together he was still somewhat annoyed.

"You know I don't like you taking them to the warehouse," Carly said.

"You never cared before, anyway it's safe there are guards everywhere," Sonny.

Michael covered his younger brother's ears, "Stop fighting!" he screamed.

"We aren't fighting, we're just discussing, but you know what this isn't worth it, I'll call my mom and have her watch the boys," Carly said reaching into her purse for her cell phone.

"Wait Carly, really I'd love to have the boys with me today and if you really don't want us to go to the warehouse I'll go later, I have to do inventory but I guess it can wait," Sonny caved.

"Ok fine then it's settled, give mommy a kiss boys I have to go," Carly said. Morgan hugged her enthusiastically. Michael scowled.

"Say goodbye to your mother Michael" Sonny intervened and reluctantly Michael crossed the room and half hugged his mother.

In the elevator Carly considered the scene she had just walked away from. Sonny was actually letting her call the shots? That was a new occurrence she supposed he was still hopeful they might reconcile, she thought about it more and realized that perhaps they might. Feeling invigorated Carly got into her car and pulled away from the curb. Her clock said it was a little before eleven as she hustled home to change and get ready to meet Dr. Patrick Drake and his fiancee Emily Bowen Quartermaine.

Normally spending time with Emily Bowen Quartermaine would be the last thing Carly wanted to do. Saint Emily as Carly had dubbed her was her friend Jason Morgan's cousin and apparently the two of them had been quite close when they were younger and then even when he returned Emily had quickly snatched up one of the best parts of him Carly supposed. It was for that that Carly largely resented her. Of course Carly supposed she would not have been particularly enamored with, track star, valedictorian, homecoming queen, beloved daughter Emily regardless as she had been and had everything that Carly hadn't and wanted in high school. Still Carly had seen Patrick Drake's financial statement from their pre-financing package and she knew he was loaded. She would make a small fortune from the commission on whatever house she sold them and for that she could put up with perfect, sweet, kind, little Emily for a few hours.

Across town in the Quartermaine's East Wing, Patrick Drake finally awoke. A quick glance at the clock on the bedside table said it was after eleven. Yikes, Patrick thought why had Emily allowed him to sleep for so long, he wondered. Then he noticed the note beside the clock.

_Good Morning Patrick! I love you and you looked so peaceful and adorable I didn't have the heart to wake you. I'm taking Kate to track practice and I'm going to stay and run with them so I'll probably be home around 11:30. We have to meet our real estate agent at 12:30 but maybe we can go to Kelly's after since I know that eating healthy 24-7 is not exactly your thing but well when your mother is a cardiologist who lives in fear of her father in law's second heart attack well then heart healthy low fat becomes your reality. I love you! -__Em_

Patrick was touched by her note and her kindness even she did make him sound like a junkaholic when she was the one who ate those vile and disgusting pixie sticks. Smiling as he thought of her Patrick got up and prepared to get ready for the rest of the day. When Emily returned home about fifteen minutes later she heard the shower running in their adjoining bathroom and started shuffling through her closet to select an outfit for the day.

After a few minutes of deliberation she pulled out a khaki slightly longer than fingertip length skirt, a long sleeved red top, and red soft leather flats. She laid her clothes, along with clean stockings, panties, and a bra on her bed and waited for Patrick to finish in the bathroom. Just then her cell rang and she picked it up from where she had laid it on her dresser. "Hello," Emily began.

"Emily it's Jason," came the voice from the other end.

"Good morning!," Emily said then glancing at the clock and reassuring herself that there were indeed twenty six minutes of morning. "How is Brenda?" she asked.

"Better, could you come by later this afternoon. I have to meet Sonny at five and I don't want her to be alone," Jason admitted.

"Sure, we're leaving soon to look at houses and then I'm probably taking Patrick to Kelly's for lupper," Emily explained, using the term her biological mom Paige had coined for a lunch/supper combination. Of course the Quartermaine family was a little more formal so perhaps it should have been linner, she supposed.

"Yeah, I guess Carly is your real estate agent so Sonny has the boys and she won't let him bring them to the warehouse so we can't meet until after she comes back," Jason said.

"Write this down Jason, I think this is one moment where Carly and I might agree on something, I wouldn't be thrilled if my children were hanging out in a mafia warehouse either, no offense," Emily said.

"Good grief you make it sound like Sonny was going to take them along to the next meeting with the five families. Honestly he was just going to do some paperwork, and we have a little strategy session," Jason admitted.

"Jason I love you, and we've been through this a million times, I can't and won't rationalize what you do to being ok, or legal or anything like that, and honestly I'd rather not know the details and we're having dinner with Uncle John and Aunt Abby tomorrow after church so I especially do not want to know details," Emily said.

"Uhhh ok, so I'll see you this afternoon," Jason said awkwardly.

"Sure, we'll be there around five, take care Jase," Emily replied.

"Bye, thank you," Jason said terminating the call.

Emily closed her cell and took a deep cleansing breath. Why did everything have to be so stressful. Her cousin was a good person inside she knew that, but he did things that made him an evil monster. Gahhhhh, she thought in frustration then she realized that she shower was no longer running. She knocked on the door into the bathroom.

"Just a minute Em," Patrick said putting toothpaste on his toothbrush and starting to brush. He had heard most of Emily's side of the conversation. He hadn't been intentionally eavesdropping but he had gotten out of the shower just as her phone was rigning so as he had toweled off and shaved he had been a sort of captive audience. He hated to hear Emily upset and he truly wished she could just walk away from her cousin but then he knew she couldn't and her compassion, love, and loyalty were all reasons he loved her.

Patrick rinsed out the sink and then called, "I'm all done hon," as he exited the bathroom into his room closing the door behind him.

A few seconds later Emily walked into bathroom, the scent of Patrick's polo still wafting slightly and reached in to turn on the shower. Later in the shower she let the hot water wash away her tension and stress but not as long as she would have liked as she didn't want to be late to meet Carly. Out of the shower she dried and dressed. She then dried her hair enough to style it a little, brushed her teeth, and applied a little mascara and lip gloss.

She tossed her towels into the bathroom hamper, and scooped up her running clothes from the floor and went back into her room to toss them into the hamper in the closet. She slipped into her shoes, tossed her cell into her purse, and grabbed a notebook and pen from her desk and then exited her room. She found Patrick in the hallway sitting in one of the wing chairs on either side of the table under the mirror. "Did you eat breakfast?" Emily asked.

"No," Patrick admitted.

"Well then lets get you at least a sandwich or something before we start out and then we'll go out after we're done," Emily suggested pulling him up from his chair.

"How about a bagel? What about you?" Patrick asked.

"Oh I had breakfast with everyone before, I guess we should have woken you but I know you've been working too hard lately so I figured you really needed the sleep. Did you sleep well?" Emily asked.

"Actually yes, I must admit it is peaceful here, you're right this will be a great place to raise our children someday," Patrick agreed.

When they walked into the kitchen they found Emily's father and youngest sister making sandwiches in assembly line fashion. "Oh hi Em, Patrick, more bread Nicole," Alan said as they entered.

"Turkey or Vegetarian with extra spinach?" Alan asked.

"Actually Patrick just wants a bagel apparently, and we're going to lunch after we look at houses but thanks. Did mom go pick up Kate?" Emily asked.

"Yes, will you be back for dinner?" Alan asked.

"Actually I think we're going to go see Brenda, I guess Jason has plans for this evening and he doesn't want her to be alone," Emily explained.

"Are you coming back before you go see Brenda?" Nicole asked.

"If we have time, but I'm going to be here for two whole weeks Nicole so we will have plenty of time to hang out," Emily promised.

"I made Brenda a card, hang on I'll get it," Nicole said hopping down off the stool she had been sitting on and tearing out of the kitchen.

"How much did you tell her?" Emily asked.

"Just that she wasn't feeling well, she's concerned you know she adores Brenda," Alan explained.

"Yes, I'm sure," Emily said reaching into the bread box and handing Patrick his bagel. Technically Nicole had been born after Brenda had finished her college education, become a very successful model, and was no longer her parents nanny. Although Brenda had gone way past that anyway and really become a part of their family so Nicole had still come to know her and sort of viewed her as an additional older cousin Emily supposed. Emily smiled a little remembering when Brenda had first joined their family. Her father the wealthy Harlan Barrett had apparently sided with his new wife and abolished her trust fund leaving Brenda a freshman at Port Charles University nearly penniless. Coincidentally the Quartermaines had just removed psychotic nanny Tara Kincaid from their home and were a little desperate. Her mother had hired Brenda mainly because her grandmother had said that she seemed like a trustworthy girl and trust was key to her mother at that point since the previous nanny Tara had tried unsuccessfully to seduce her husband and had been caught striking her then youngest daughter.

Brenda's first few months in their home were beyond comical, but her grandmother had been right and she did have an honest and good heart underneath her princess exterior. She was pretty helpless as a nanny though having grown up in ostentatious wealth with servants. But Alli and Emily liked her and taught her how to do laundry, cook, and helped her watch Katelyn and Kirk and things actually worked out pretty well.

Nicole returned with her card. "Tell Brenda I really hope she feels better. If she gets better really quickly she can come to my recital next weekend," Nicole said handing over the card.

"I'll tell her, I'm sure she would love to go to that," Emily said genuinely. "Well we should or we'll be late," Emily finished exiting the kitchen with Patrick.

Patrick was silent as they drove to the real estate office. "Is something wrong?" Emily asked.

"I guess I just don't like the way Jason upsets you," Patrick admitted.

"He doesn't mean to I don't think, I guess it's just who he is now, I don't know actually you probably understand better than anyone I mean you've had patients with similar injuries right," Emily said.

"Do you really think that all of this is the result of his accident, that he is incapable of making the right choices?" Patrick asked. He had never really considered that theory he supposed.

"I don't know, mom, dad, Uncle Ryan, and I had this long conversation about it once a few years ago, I guess we really don't know. I suppose that's another reason none of us can really let go," Emily admitted.

"I love you," Patrick said simply as they pulled into the parking lot.

"I love you too," Emily said as he parked the car. They got out of the car and walked hand in hand to meet Carly.


	9. Chapter 8: Revelations

_Carly fans don't hate me and I'm open to her having a growth experience and turning into a decent human--review with suggestions ;). Look for building tension between Robin and Patrick in upcoming chapters and how that will affect Patrick & Emily's relationship. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 8: Revelations

A little more than four hours later Emily and Patrick had exceeded their allowable time with Carly quota by at least four hours Patrick was sure. He had met Carly several times on his previous trips to Port Charles and he had heard of some of her past but after spending four hours ignoring her flirty little sexual innuendos and her veiled barbs at Emily he wondered if perhaps everything he had heard was really true. Emily had seemingly done a better job of cutting through the crap, as she would say and they managed to look at eight homes and take a second look at their top three. They had actually submitted a pending offer on a five bedroom home in the same neighborhood Emily's parents lived in. Carly had made a quip about choosing to live within walking distance of Patrick's inlaws but the location made sense for two reasons, it's close proximity to General Hospital, and also the fact that it was served by the neighborhood school Kendall Park Elementary.

Patrick exhaled deeply as he pulled out of the parking lot of the Deveraux Agency. "I'm sorry," he began sheepishly. 

"Sorry?" Emily questioned.

"That whole scene, it just, well I mean," Patrick stammered.

"You don't have to apologize because our real estate agent lacks the common decorum to not throw herself at you, even if you do still harbor lingering guilt because there was a time when you might have reacted differently. We aren't stuck in the past Patrick," Emily said without even a hint of bitterness.

"Em, I love you, I'm marrying you," Patrick floundered.

"Exactly, and I love and trust you. That's why the whole scene with Carly is just that a scene with Carly, it's actually almost entertaining if I don't consider the pathetic side of it from Carly's standpoint," Emily said.

"Why do women act that way?" Patrick asked.

"Women in general or Carly specifically?" Emily asked.

"Either? Both?" Patrick said laughing.

"Well I think for some people perhaps the conquest is more exciting than the reward. Wasn't that kind of where you were years ago?" Emily questioned.

"Maybe, I don't know, I was kind of an immature jerk Em. I could so I did I suppose, I should probably be about to take the fifth here somewhere though," Patrick quipped.

"Nah, we're past that, I love the man you are and I'd be hypocritical to not realize that growth is a process. But onto more practical matters I was going to take you to Kelly's before we went to see Brenda but it's almost five and Jason will be getting anxious so will you starve if we get take out from Kelly's and maybe Brenda wants a milkshake or something," Emily suggested.

"That's fine, plus then you two can talk while I'm picking up dinner. I don't know her well so she's probably a little uncomfortable around me," Patrick admitted.

"Maybe, I'm just glad she's finally getting some help," Emily admitted.

"Are you ok with her being with Jason?" Patrick asked.

"Well its not really for me to be ok with or not ok with, although I'm not sure they're actually together," Emily said.

"Well it appeared that way didn't it?" Patrick asked.

"I'm not sure, I mean Jason and Brenda have been friends for years now. She knew him before the accident so they have that connection. I think he's just worried about a friend, I don't think they're together. Jason cares deeply for his friends and has this complete almost no questions asked loyalty. It's sort of the ultimate unconditional love concept, it explains why he's stuck with Carly through her multitude of lies, scams, and schemes. Carly thinks she has him fooled, but she's the fool in that sense and he sees through her he just has this loyalty where he can accept her for who she is. It's why he does things I don't even want to think about for Sonny. Now if only he would well, to be trite, pick better friends," Emily lamented.

"I never really thought of it that way," Patrick admitted.

"Yeah, Jason's a pretty complex person. People tend to discount this, I think it was one of the major problems in his relationship with Robin," Emily admitted.

This interested Patrick and he looked over at her after stopping for the red light, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well I guess Robin is someone else who knew Jason before the accident, although I'd argue not well. Robin and Jason are only about two years apart and ironically Robin grew up in Port Charles and went to college in Boston and Jason grew up in Boston and went to college in Port Charles. But my parents are friends with Robin's uncle so Jason and Robin met that way and they hung out some when Robin was home for summers and vacations from Harvard. Still Robin was dating someone else during that entire period and wasn't very interested in Jason. The timing was weird because Robin's boyfriend died in December of 1996 about three months before the accident that took Jason's parents life and led to his brain injury. When he returned to Port Charles after the accident he really didn't remember the connections he had had before and Robin was still reeling from Stone's death. I think it really just started out as a identification of shared grief honestly. It grew into a friendship and I suppose a romantic relationship but I think Robin always operated under the guise that Jason was "damaged" in fact she would rant about how Carly took advantage of Jason because of that," Emily said recalling some of the drama of that summer.

"But in reality Jason just chose to accept Carly for who she was just as he accepted Robin you figure. I'm sure that didn't sit well with Robin. What about Jason's connections to the crime lord Michael Corinthos?" Patrick wondered.

"Right, but Robin could never, and even now I suppose can't see that. I guess I'd probably consider Jason's friendship with Sonny to be more of a manipulative scenario. I don't know that I think Sonny intentionally preyed on Jason's anguish and frustration with his lack of memories or that he realized the loyalty and unconditional friendship Jason would give him when he hired him. But I do think he kind of took his blank slate and created it to suit his purposes," Emily admitted.

"So was Robin upset with him as well?" Patrick asked.

"Actually no, Robin and Sonny were friends. Robin's first boyfriend worked for Sonny and from what I understand was really more of a younger brother to Sonny than an employee. Basically the relationship Jason has at this point, I'd guess," Emily said as Patrick pulled into the main entrance to Port Charles General Hospital.

"Interesting, so the Police commissioner's daughter makes it a habit of dating criminals, and you wonder why organized crime is a major problem in your community," Patrick quipped putting the car in park.

"Well Robin is Commissioner Scorpio's niece, and I'm not sure it's so much a habit, but yes it was interesting that she dated Stone and then Jason and her uncle was not thrilled with either relationship from what I understand. As far as the whole organized crime issue I think that it's more a situation of the ego of our Police Department getting in the way of doing the right thing and I think that is in the process of changing," Emily said.

"What do you mean?" Patrick asked.

"There is a reason my Uncle John is back in town, the DA and the Police Commissioner finally are ready to realize that fighting organized crime with the resources of a small town police department is akin to putting out a forest fire with a watering can. Port Charles is going to become a safe community. I have to believe that and I do, I really do or I would have just suggested we stay in Manhattan and ultimately plan to raise children there," Emily said.

"So we hope for the best?" Patrick asked getting out of the car.

"We pray that there is a way for us to all come out on the other side, I think there is," Emily said getting out of the car and closing the door. She took Patrick's hand as they walked across the parking lot to the main entrance to the hospital together.

Meanwhile Robin was sitting in Kelly's having an early dinner with a few friends from the hospital. It was a mixed group of female resident and attending physicians at General Hospital. Robin didn't recall that she had ever gone out socially with her attendings when she had been a resident, of course with General Hospital being a smaller program there seemed to be less distinction between housestaff and attendings at least from an outside perspective. General Hospital had a small pediatrics program which took three residents each year, a general surgery program which took two residents each year, and an internal medicine program which took four residents each year. They also still offered the transitional internship which provided them with another three slots although Robin knew that those slots were becoming harder to fill as most students looking for a one year internship as the required bridge into radiology, anesthesiology, dermatology, would opt to do their internship at the same institution where they had done their residency. Still they did have interns who didn't mind moving two years in a row, or some people who had wanted to spend a year in Port Charles because of family ties or something. She thought that was probably a big reason why Dr. Joe Scanlon had done his internship at General Hospital before returning to New Jersey to do a 2-3-4 program in Emergency Medicine. Of course he had returned to Port Charles and General Hospital to take a job in the Emergency Department around the time she had graduated from medical school and started her residency at Yale.

"It's a little intimidating," Dr. Simone Chapman, a forty six year old pediatrics attending, said taking another drink of her iced tea.

"It's the new bringing him home to meet your mother, now bringing him home to meet your grown children from the first marriage, I was actually reading an article about that," thirty two year old Dr. Aletea Markham, a second year pediatrics resident quipped; and Robin forced herself to pay attention to the conversation at hand. She presumed that Simone was talking about introducing her current boyfriend, to her son Tommy Hardy, who Robin thought was seventeen or perhaps eighteen. She thought he was a little younger than her cousin Georgie Jones who would be nineteen in the fall. At one point Simone had been married to psychiatrist Tom Hardy, and they had a son Tommy. After their divorce when Tommy was just an infant, they had actually had a rather amicable relationship, at least from Robin's adolescent perspective. For awhile Tom had even dated Georgie and Maxie's mother Felicia and gotten close to marrying her but Felicia's stalker had put strain on their marriage and they had never really recovered from that. After that Tom had left to do some mission work in Africa and ultimately returned and settled in Boston. His son had joined him there at some point during junior high school Robin believed. Tom's father Steven was an internist who had at one point been Chief of Staff at General Hospital and had been one of Robin's inspirations for medicine. His mother Audrey had been the Director of Nursing but had retired a few years ago and was enjoying spending a lot of time with her granddaughter Elizabeth Weber Spencer who had returned to her parents hometown and lived with Audrey throughout high school.

"Exactly, and we will be going to visit in June for his graduation," Simone explained.

"I still remember when he was just a baby, I feel old now," Robin joked.

"Thanks Robin, that makes me feel very youthful as well since I'm his mother. But yes hard to imagine he's off to college in a few months," Simone quipped.

"Where is he matriculating?" Robin inquired.

Dr. Kelly Lee, an obstetrician, snorted at her friend's formality. But Simone answered her, "University of Michigan,".

"Wow so far away," Robin said.

"Well if you go through Canada probably about ten hours, we might actually take him to school, apparently Tom is on service the month of August and if he can't switch with someone then I told him we'd take care of it," Simone explained.

"When is his graduation?" Aletea asked.

"The second weekend in June," Simone said.

"Lucky you, you'll be in town to attend both Dr. Quartermaine's daughter's wedding and then the housestaff welcome picnic at their home the third weekend in June," Kelly reminded her friend.

"Oh and don't forget the Nurse's Ball the night before. I still need to find a date," Aletea commented. .

"Join the club," Kelly said with exasperation. "Seriously every guy between thirty and fifty in this town is either married, neurotic, psychotic, one of my exes or all of the above," she quipped.

Dr. Lainey Winters, a thirty six year old psychiatrist, cracked a half smile at her appartmentmate's comment. Reflecting on some of Kelly's past relationships she realized that all of the above was perhaps the most frequent category. Just then the door opened and a tall, fit, handsome gentleman with medium brown hair and chocolate eyes walked through the door. "Oooh I think my date just walked in," Kelly crooned.

Lainey followed her friends eyes and then flashed her a 'do we really have to go through this again look'. "Don't say it, I know he's probably psychotic, the gorgeous ones always are I suppose but I can still admire" Kelly challenged.

"Actually I was merely going to suggest he might be married," Lainey joked.

Curious Robin, who had been sitting with her back to the door, turned to see who they were talking about and found herself looking right into Patrick's eyes. "Oh, that's slick Robin, turn around and gape, it's not obvious or anything," Kelly hissed kicking her under the table.

Startled Robin yelped involuntarily and turned back to face her friends, "I'd go with neurotic, arrogant, and basically a general jerk," she suggested.

"Hmmm, well he seems to be coming our way," Aletea said pretending to be very intently interested in her dinner.

In reality Patrick was coming to pick up a take out order to bring back to Emily and Brenda but he had noticed Robin's glare and had challenged himself to take the high road flashing back a smile, after all he had taken a few minutes before bed last night to look her up on the hospital website and with google, apparently she was a neurologist so it was likely that they would perhaps have a few shared patients and he knew that they needed to have an amicable professional relationship. He had to pass by their table on his way to pick up his takeout anyway so he lingered briefly. "Good evening Dr. Scorpio," he began.

"Dr. Drake," Robin returned uncomfortably. What had she done to deserve to run into him twice in less than twenty four hours, she wondered.

Kelly flashed Robin a look, but then stood nearly knocking over a chair to stand up and introduce herself, "I'm Dr. Kelly Lee, an obstetrician at General Hospital, I don't believe we've met yet," she said.

Patrick extended his hand, "Dr. Patrick Drake, I'll be joining the medical staff in neurosurgery in June," he explained.

"What brings you to Port Charles?" Kelly asked.

"My fiancee matched here in Pediatrics. We're in town house hunting actually," Patrick said.

"Aaah I'm in Peds also, who is your fiancee?" Aletea asked curiously.

"Emily Bowen Quartermaine," Patrick said his eyes lighting up more as he thought about her.

"Oh yes, I remember her from the interview season, I was really excited to hear she had matched here I think she's going to be great," Aletea said.

"Yes she is, Emily is a really special person and she's going to be such an amazing pediatrician in a few years I'm sure. I'm probably biased but seriously how she can put together a differential diagnosis, well honestly it's impressive and scintilating and she's developed that art much more than I ever had as a medical student or any medical students I've ever worked with," Patrick reflected proudly.

"So did you do your residency at Columbia?" Aletea asked recalling that Emily was a Columbia student.

"No, I moved to NY city after residency, I admitted mostly at Weill Medical Center, it is a Cornell affiliate. Emily and I never did any rotations together but well sometimes we discussed things and a few of my colleagues worked with her at different points. Anyway I'm supposed to be picking up our order and joining her so I hate to be rude but I should go. Enjoy your evening ladies," Patrick said flashing one of his perfect smiles and then headed to pick up his takeout.

After Patrick had left, Kelly turned to Robin. "Next time let me know before I'm about to throw myself at the Chief of Staff's daughter's fiancee," she hissed. "How do you know him anyway?" she continued.

"First, I actually didn't realize Emily Quartermaine was his mystery fiancee, I never figured she'd be so blind to his manipulations. I actually feel badly about that one, Em is a really sweet person I'd hate to see her hurt and well with Patrick that's kind of reality, and he did his neurosurgery residency at Yale unfortunately," Robin said. But once the words were out she regretted them slightly. It was unkind and slightly unfair she supposed.

"So when did you and Patrick date and is this going to be a problem?" Kelly asked.

"Patrick and I never dated I try to avoid arrogant jerks, I just spent a month being his personal lackey it was swell really," Robin said.

"You sound bitter," Lainey said but the look Robin flashed her made her regret the words.

"Do you really think he's going to hurt Emily? I mean he seemed really impressed with her and his eyes lit up when we were talking about her," Aletea challenged.

"The only person I've ever seen Patrick Drake be impressed with is himself," Robin said. Again once the words were out she regretted them, Lainey was right she did sound bitter. Perhaps she was.

"Well maybe he has changed," Aletea suggested optimistically.

"I'd doubt that," Robin said dryly.


	10. Chapter 9: Girl Talk

_Short but a needed conversation. So now we know that Brenda is over Sonny? Perhaps the better question is she over Jason?_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 9: Girl Talk

Back at General Hospital, Jason had left to meet Sonny; leaving Brenda and Emily awaiting Patrick's return with their food. Emily regarded her friend carefully, Jason was right she did look perhaps a million times better than she had not even twenty four hours ago. It was amazing what IV fluids could sometimes do.

"Patrick seems like an incredibly sweet guy are you excited about the wedding ?" Brenda asked.

"Patrick is a really awesome and caring person. I'm excited to spend the rest of my life with him, our wedding is perhaps a little more ostentatious than I really want but, I'll deal. It will make grandfather happy," Emily admitted.

"So you're not going to sneak off and elope like your older brother," Brenda asked.

"No, although technically AJ and Keesha didn't elope, they just simplified things majorly with a little help from grandmother," Emily recalled. Her older brother and his fiancee Keesha Ward had been planning this elaborate New Years Eve wedding that and honestly her grandfather had nearly driven them both crazy with his "help". In the end though her grandmother had saved the day, and AJ and Keesha had exchanged their vows in simple ceremony after church the Sunday before Christmas. Edward and the wedding planner he had brought all the way from California were a bit miffed but as usual her grandmother had smoothed his ruffled feathers and in time he had been convinced it had been a great idea and wasn't AJ so glad he had thought of it.

"Yeah Lila always managed to let Edward think that things were actually his idea, if she wasn't one of the kindest people I've ever met you'd have thought she was manipulative," Brenda said.

"Yeah grandmother really set the tone for so much, I often wonder if perhaps things would have been different with Jason if she had just lived another year," Emily said pensively.

"Don't give up on your cousin he's still in there somewhere Emily," Brenda said.

"Now you sound like grandmother," Emily quipped.

"Well I think we've concluded that she was a wise woman so I'll take that as a compliment," Brenda said lightly.

"May I ask you something?" Emily asked.

"Umm sure," Brenda said uneasily.

"When you and Jason were together after grandmother's death what happened?" Emily probed.

"What do you mean?" Brenda asked looking down at the sheets.

"Well you were together for maybe three or four months, during the time that Jason pretty much refused to speak to the rest of the family," Emily said remembering how lonely that Christmas had been.

"I guess I just thought I could save him from himself, I couldn't no one really can, kind of like he can't save me," Brenda admitted.

"You can save yourself Brenda, you're stronger than this you can," Emily said emphatically.

"Sometimes I believe that, other times well," Brenda's voice trailed off as a nurse came in to hang a new bag of IV fluids.

"We all have moments we can't quite see ourselves coming out on the other side sometimes we just have to trust ourselves and trust God, its not easy," Emily said.

"Well, given all the sins I've committed I'm not sure that God is even on my side," Brenda said.

"He forgives you and if he can forgive you then why can't you forgive yourself?" Emily asked.

"I don't know, I guess I just really hate who I've become," Brenda said honestly unable to meet Emily's eyes.

"Well maybe that's something to work on but I assure you that you don't deserve the self hate that you're dishing out," Emily said.

"I suppose that depends on your perspective. I highly doubt that Carly or Sam would agree with you," Brenda said.

"Well first of all neither of them have a clue about you or any right to judge you, plus I think that's a cop out anyway because you never cared what they thought before," Emily said.

"Maybe, I don't know, you sound like Cruz," Brenda said.

"Well from what I know of Cruz he seems like a decent guy so I don't think that's necessarily bad. Does he know you're here?" Emily asked.

"I don't think he realizes I'm even back in town, I wasn't supposed to be back until next week anyway, we finished a lot earlier than expected. I just haven't felt up to really dealing with anyone," Brenda admitted.

"Maybe you should tell him what's happening," Emily suggested.

"Maybe," Brenda said noncommittally.

"Are you afraid of his reaction?" Emily asked.

"Well yes, but actually that's not really it," Brenda admitted. She had forgotten how good Emily was at getting her to spill all her secrets almost without even trying.

"So what is it?" Emily asked.

"I'm not really sure if I love him, and he's made it pretty obvious he loves me, I don't want to discover I never really loved him and he just seemed like a decent person, well which he is," Brenda admitted.

"Your atonement for your relationship with Sonny, date a cop?" Emily questioned.

"Not that simplistically, and certainly not that calculatingly but I suppose yes maybe. He's a good guy though I don't want to hurt him," Brenda said.

"Are you afraid you aren't over Sonny yet?" Emily asked.

"No, I am finally, ok so maybe I wasn't every time I told Jax I was but yeah I really am now. Still being over Sonny doesn't mean I love Cruz," Brenda said.

"No, but it means you're ready to find out if you love Cruz," Emily said.

"Yeah maybe but what if I don't?" Brenda asked.

"Then you don't and you'll be honest about that, isn't it worth it to find out?" Emily asked.

"I guess you're right, as Lila would have said your heart never lies," Brenda said.

"Good point, I really miss her so much," Emily said smiling.

"I think we all do," Brenda said quietly just as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Brenda called slightly uneasily. She relaxed when she saw Patrick juggling three milkshakes and a large takeout bag from Kelly's.

"You didn't have to knock," Brenda said as Emily took two milkshakes from him and helped him set the rest of his load down on the table.

"Well, I didn't want to interrupt anything," Patrick said.

"You didn't, just some girl talk," Brenda said accepting the milkshake Emily was handing her.


	11. Chapter 10: Sunday Services

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 10: Sunday Services

Sunday morning Emily stood, clutching a flute in one hand and a music stand in the other; with Katelyn in the vestibule of Trinity Episcopal Church, where the Quartermaine family had attended for years. Lila and Edward had been married in the church decades ago and it was where Emily and Patrick would share their own vows in weeks. As parishioners processed into church a few stopped to congratulate Emily on her engagement or whisper that they had heard the good news that she was coming back to General Hospital. Their congregation demonstrated the extremes of socioeconomic status with perhaps most members either belonging to the upper class, likely because of Trinity Episcopal's location in the Lilac Park neighborhood; or the extreme lower class probably because of the congregation's outreach efforts spearheaded in the past by Emily's grandmother, to the waterfront district.

Emily was just about to suggest to Katelyn that the could sneak into the back and begin to set up for their processional flute duet a piece from the Great Gate of Kiev, when she felt someone bump into her and throw her into a hug. After a moment of panic Emily looked up into Lucy Coe's eyes. "Emily its so great to see you, your father said you were coming home," Lucy intoned as Katelyn tried to keep from rolling her eyes and braced her sister so she didn't topple over from the hug onslaught. Apparently Lucy and their father had dated before he had married their mother and now were close friends. Katelyn knew her mother found Lucy loud, brash and sometimes hard to take but she had said that her heart was truly in the right place and that life had been difficult for Lucy. She had been through multiple marriages and apparently had been unable to have children of her own. For that reason she had doted on the Quartermaine children and sort of inserted herself as a surrogate aunt. Currently Lucy was single and in her own words "on the prowl" which Katelyn knew her mother had not seen the humor in.

"Yes, Patrick and I were looking at houses, actually we put an offer on one near mom and dad's we're waiting to hear if it is accepted," Emily said somewhat muffled.

"Oh how wonderful, and where is that dreamy neurosurgeon? You know I was married to a neurosurgeon once," Lucy intoned referring to her long ago relationship with the now late Tony Jones.

"Patrick is in sitting with Kirk, Nicole and grandfather. Mom had an emergency, dad is in the choir, and Kate and I are supposed to be playing processional," Emily said gesturing with her flute as Lucy finally gave her a little space.

"Of course, oh here comes Kevin," Lucy said as Kevin Collins, who had at one point been a psychiatrist at General Hospital joined them. Kevin had faced his own struggles with mental illness though and had retired from the practice of medicine and last Katelyn had heard was writing another book. Katelyn hoped his book was about happier topics since she had heard that his murder mystery had actually led to a few murders years ago.

As Kevin and Lucy made their way to a pew Emily and Katelyn took a collective deep breath and then set up their music stands in the back of the sanctuary. As the organ cued the accompaniment they began to play as the choir and minister processed in. At the conclusion their introit and processional they quietly slipped out one of the back doors to put away their instruments. "I have Patrick's keys just put your stuff in his SUV ok because I don't have dad's ok," Emily whispered as they walked out to the small parking lot behind the church.

As they came back through the small garden behind the church Katelyn stopped hesitantly in front of a few of the rose bushes their grandmother had transplanted from her garden. Emily wrapped a protective arm around her younger sister, "I miss her too Kate, come on let's go back inside," she said simply and Katelyn fell in step and they took the path through the garden back to the rear entrance to the church.

Emily was just about to pull the door open when she heard someone calling her name, she turned to the voice and was surprised to see her cousin Lois Cerullo approaching with a girl who looked to be about Katelyn's age. Lois and Ned had married about four months before she and her mother had moved to Port Charles and their daughter Brooke-Lynn had been born that August while Emily and her mother had been living with Alan and Monica. Emily remembered the pain of that time but she also remembered being entranced with Brooke-Lynn, or perhaps she had just been entranced with life and miracles as she had been accepting that her mother's time was limited.

Unfortunately Ned and Lois' marriage hadn't worked out and they had separated around Christmastime in 1996. Brooke had been almost two then and Emily really hadn't seen much of her since the divorce. She had once overheard a conversation between her aunt Tracy and her grandmother discussing Brooke and Tracy had conceded that Lois had perhaps every right to be angry with and punish Ned but that when she punished him by depriving him of his child then the person she was really punishing was Brooke. She had also said something about how she had long learned the consequences of that and hated to see another child subjected to the same fate. Emily remembered how Lila had challenged her stating that she hadn't intentionally kept Ned from his father, and how Tracy had responded that she hadn't but she had seen the consequences of a child who grew up feeling rejected by one parent and at times tried to shield that pain with blaming the other parent. She didn't want Brooke to grow up with the rejection and although she admitted she would have never selected Lois as a friend she knew that blame from a child with Ashton blood could be tough to take.

"Lois, Ned didn't mention you and Brooke were joining us this morning," Emily began. "Wow Brooke is so big now," she continued internally chiding herself after the comment was out recalling how much it had annoyed her when she had been Brooke's age.

"Who is that?" Brooke asked with wide eyes.

"Your cousin, Emily, Monica and Alan's daughter," Lois explained.

"And who is she?" Brooke asked rolling her eyes in Katelyn's direction.

Emily saw Lois hesitate as if she was unsure of Katelyn's name so she broke in, "Brooke this is my younger sister Katelyn, and Kate Brooke is our cousin Ned's daughter. She must be twelve, well almost thirteen now," Emily said doing some quick math in her head.

"Perhaps barging into church unannounced was a mistake," Lois said.

"Well we played processional we were just putting our instruments away and were going to sneak back in before the second hymn. You could come with us or everyone is getting together for brunch at our house after services if you just wanted to go back to the house and wait there. I can give you the security password so you could get in," Emily suggested.

"Are Edward and Lila still living with your parents?" Lois asked.

Emily hesitated again uncomfortably. She knew Ned and Lois were not close and Brooke was pretty distant from their family but surely someone had told her that her great grandmother had passed away. Emily smiled sadly remembering how grandmother had adored Brooke, adored all of them really. "Grandfather is, but he's inside, I hate to tell you this way but grandmother passed away almost three years ago," she said.

"Well maybe we'll stop off and see another old friend and then join your family for brunch, don't mention to Ned that we're coming," Lois suggested herding Brooke back in the direction of the car.

"I think I kind of remember her. They used to live here right?" Katelyn asked when they were out of earshot.

"Yes, but you were only two when they divorced. So yes but it was a long time ago," Emily explained as they neared the door again.

"So I'm thinking brunch is going to be interesting," Katelyn suggested.

"When has a Quartermaine family brunch ever been anything less," Emily quipped in a whisper and opened the door.

They entered the sanctuary just as the offertory was starting to play. It was a cool dueling pianos piece that her dad and Nicole were doing together and Emily smiled as they snuck into the pew with Patrick and her family. "I was getting worried. Is everything alright?" Patrick whispered as she sat down.

"I'm fine," Emily said taking his hand and realizing she had not exactly answered the question he had asked.

* * *

_Watch the fireworks fly as Lois and Brooke crash the Quartermaine brunch. Unfortunately they aren't the only unexpected guests? Any guesses or requests for who the other one is? (I have a plan but I'd consider adding a third ring in the three ring circus ha-ha!) Review!_


	12. Chapter 11: Real Men Eat Quiche

_Brooke-Lynn (and probably Lois) will be a part of this story and their visit is not as random as Emily believes. Lois and Brooke's secret as well as mystery guest #3 will be revealed in Chapter 12._

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 11: Real Men Eat Quiche

Later all nineteen remaining members of the Quartermaine extended family plus Dr. Ian Thornhart and his five year old son Daniel sat down to brunch at the long oak table in the dining room. Grilled salmon, spinach quiche, rice, steamed brocolli and carrots, croissants, fresh fruit, and juice beckoned from the buffet sideboard as Edward said the blessing. Emily sat slightly nervously holding Katelyn and Patrick's hands who sat on either side of her. She was surprised Lois hadn't arrived yet since it had been over two hours ago that they spoken in the church garden. She was curious about what brought Lois and Brooke back to Port Charles on a random Sunday in April.

"Amen," Edward's voice boomed and echoed from the acoustics of the cathedral ceiling and rotely Emily said "Amen" and relased Katelyn's hand.

Emily lingered a moment as the rest of the family started to make their way to the buffet. Just then Patrick's cell phone began to ring. Patrick opened his phone, "Hello this is Dr. Drake," he began dryly.

"Wait a minute, I'm in the middle of a family brunch Carly," Patrick began and stood to leave the room. Hearing the name on the end of his sentence and presuming Carly had news about the house they had submitted an offer on Emily followed him from the room.

"I'm sorry did you hear from sellers?" Patrick asked as they walked into the living room.

"So they've accepted our offer, that's great. Will there be a problem with closing by the end of May? I will be moving to Port Charles sometime in May and it would be wonderful to not have to deal with the hassle of storage, plus I'd like to have the closing out of the way before the wedding and Emily starts her orientation at the hospital," Patrick said.

"Wonderful then, I'll check back with you next week and make sure you don't need any more information from us to prepare for the closing. Please extend our appreciation to the sellers. Thank you for your help Carly. Goodbye," Patrick said.

"So we got the house?" Emily restated.

"Yes," Patrick said embracing his fiancee.

"My parents will be thrilled," Emily said.

"Not half as thrilled as your grandfather," Patrick quipped.

"You might have a point there," Emily admitted kissing him.

Eventually they separated from the passion of the kiss and walked resolutely back to the dining room. The rest of the family was working their way through their meal but looked up when Emily and Patrick returned.

"Is everything alright?" Monica asked with trepidation.

"Everything is great, Patrick and I have an announcement," Emily said smiling.

"You're pregnant?" Ned said wryly.

"Ummm no of course not," Emily stammered blushing.

"Ned! That was not even funny, your young cousin is a woman of virtue," Edward protested.

"What is your news Emily?" Alan asked attempting to divert the conversation.

"Hey it wouldn't be the first shotgun wedding this family has seen," Ned quipped.

"Seriously Ned, you are out of line. If you can't behave yourself you..." Edward began before the interruption.

"I should what grandfather? Spin the truth a little better?"

"Yes Emily please tell us your news," Monica encouraged ignoring the argument between her nephew and father in law.

"Ned, to my knowledge no one in this family has ventured into a marriage of oh shall we say convenience," Edward intoned loudly his face getting red.

"How quickly you forget grandfather, why else do you think I married Lois? or Alexis? or why did mother marry Lawrence?" Ned said bitterly.

"I married your father because I loved him, fifteen months later we were given a great gift, you," Tracey began uncomfortably and Emily saw her uncle Ryan, Tracey's second husband and a psychiatrist at General Hospital wrap a protective comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Yet eighteen months later dad decided his secretary was just too much to resist and you went wailing home to mommy," Ned challenged.

"I admit that your father's betrayal was painful but in time you realize that you don't always fall in love with the people who are going to treat you well. Still the dissolution of my marriage forced me to realize how strong I could truly be. I'm thankful for the support and help I had from your grandparents but if mother taught me anything it was that I could do anything I set my mind to," Tracey continued gaining steam.

"Yes and you could punish him for all the pain he caused you by keeping his son away from him, it's a nice trick, ironic that you taught it so well to Lois and Alexis as well," Ned continued.

"I never kept your father away from you Ned, what happened between us was between us. He will always be your father but this is not a conversation that I'm going to continue at this time. We can speak more later," Tracey said.

"Of course we must not let the rest of the family see your vindictive woman scorned side, it isn't very becoming. But still very ironic that my ex wife who hated you with a passion mother exemplifies that same trait," Ned continued unaware that during his argument with his mother Kirk had answered the door and led Lois and Brooke back to the dining room.

"Well miracles never cease, this is a wonderful surprise, oh you've gotten so big," Edward began in a much softer voice and rose from his place at the table going towards the doorway where Lois and Brooke stood.

"Its so good to see you again, you were barely talking the last time I think," Edward continued reaching out to embrace his great granddaughter.

"Ewww mom get this sicko off me," Brooke screamed and flailed.

Edward pulled back hurt but tried to cover. "I'm sorry sweetheart you probably barely know me, but well I'd know those eyes anywhere. I'm your great grandfather Edward honey," he said genuinely.

The commotion forced Ned to turn to the doorway where he saw his ex-wife and his daughter. "Well look what the cat dragged in, I think I've just lost my appetite," Ned said bitterly getting up from the table and exiting the dining room through the north doorway that his ex wife and daughter weren't blocking.

Alan and Monica rose from the table as well and joined the group in the doorway. "What a nice surprise Lois, why don't you and Brooke join us for brunch there is an empty chair by Kirk and another by Shannon. Just help yourself to some food from the buffet," Alan suggested.

"Yes please there is plenty of food and Alan made the quiche that you love," Monica said remembering that Lois had adored her husband's quiche even claiming that surely surgery could not have been his true calling.

It didn't take much coaxing to get Brooke at the buffet fixing a plate and Dylan and Kirk shifted around a little so she could sit next to Katelyn who she was closest in age. While everyone was playing musical chairs Tracey excused herself and went after her son.

Tracey found Ned realizing that his Miata and his escape was being blocked by John and Abby Quartermaine's minivan. "I couldn't be so lucky that Uncle John sent you out with the keys could I?" Ned asked.

"What has gotten into you? I'm not allowing you to storm out of here like some spoiled two year old who isn't getting his way. You're a father now and you will go back into that house and apologize to your daughter," Tracey said.

"She probably couldn't even pick me out of the crowd as her father," Ned challenged.

"I think you're exaggerating but Ned I'd be the first to agree with you that you need to be more involved in Brooke-Lynn's life," Tracey said.

"Don't start on that mother, I've been kept from my child, who would have ever thought that you and Lois would share anything in common?" Ned said.

"I never kept your father from you Ned. I did my best to facilitate a relationship but your father got too caught up in his life and just wasn't available, perhaps very similar to what you've done to Brooke-Lynn. I ask you to rethink how you've handled things though because I can see how you're still affected by this today and I'm sure you don't want the same for your daughter," Tracey appealed.

"You have no idea what you're talking about mother, I pay child support, I send gifts, and Lois won't let her come visit," Ned protested.

"Well couldn't you visit her? Anyway right now apparently Lois has brought her to visit and you're outside having a tantrum in the driveway," Tracey said turning to start back into the house. She prayed her son would follow.

When Tracey returned the rest of the family seemed to have resumed lunch and Emily and Patrick had finally gotten to share their news that their offer on a home in the neighborhood had been accepted and they would be able to close on the home in May. Tracey chuckled slightly knowing how happy and proud Alan had been when Emily had matched into the Pediatrics program at General Hospital. Emily had interviewed all over even at from what Tracey understood the premiere program Children's Hospital of Philadelphia or "CHOP" for short and Tracey had guessed that her niece had made their short list but in the end somehow coming home had won out. Perhaps there was some truth her father's insistence that you may be able to take the Quartermaine out of Port Charles but you can't take the Quartermaine out of your blood.

Tracey looked up from the remains of her meal as she saw her oldest son appear in the doorway. Lois noticed him also and stood, "We should talk," she said simply crossing the room to join her ex-husband.

"Why don't you take her into the family room Ned, you can close the door if you need privacy," Alan suggested and the two left silently.


	13. Chapter 12: A Matter of Trust

_Mostly a character development and background chapter. Although this builds to the conflict brewing between Patrick and Emily and it will all come to a head in Chapter 14. I think Brooke is going to be a pretty interesting character who will keep her great grandfather on his toes. Because she seems to have enough other problems I decided not to have her afflicted with SORAS as well so she will turn 13 in August._

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 12: A Matter of Trust

Brooke-Lynn Ashton looked down at her plate as her parents left the room. She could only imagine the conversation that was going on behind closed door and honestly she didn't want to think about it so she just kept shoveling food into her mouth silently. Around her the rest of the family was finishing up and people were starting to clear away plates. The only non family guests Dr. Ian Thornhart and his son five year old Daniel had politely excused themselves. "Don't feel rushed Brooke," the man who had introduced himself as her Uncle Alan said as he had left to take a final load of plates to the kitchen.

"Yes but after brunch mom said we could go visit Brenda," Nicole announced.

"Who is Brenda?" Riley asked, Brooke thought he was supposed to be a cousin as well. Monica and Alan had gone through the introductions pretty quickly and she hadn't really caught who everyone was. It was kind of weird to have an entire other side of the family she didn't even know.

"Brenda is a really nice and beautiful person," Nicole said. Brooke smirked slightly at the remains of her lunch since she hadn't actually answered his question at all.

"You don't know who Brenda Barrett is? Hello she's only the number one American model, everyone has heard of her," Shannon contributed.

"Brenda Barrett is a dear family friend who grandfather has essentially adopted into the family as an additional grandchild. I think you both met her at our New Years Eve Party," Katelyn actually answered his question.

"Don't you have a enough grandchildren?" Brooke retorted.

"You can never have too many grandchildren," the white haired gentleman at the head of the table boomed.

"You can come to meet her too Brooke," Nicole offered generously.

Brooke already knew Brenda Barrett, she was one of her mother's best friends and Brooke's godmother. She hadn't realized that Brenda was sort of related to her father's family that was kind of intriguing actually. Maybe she could ask Brenda about her dad. Anyway her mother had promised that she was sure she'd be grounded until she was eighty once her father got done with her. Perhaps she should take advantage of her last day of freedom.

"But I thought we were going to the movie?" Riley protested.

Movie? Brooke wondered that seemed like a possibility also. "What movie?" Brooke asked hesitantly.

"Firehouse Dog, Serena picked it," Riley said, referring to fifteen year old Serena Baldwin who he had quite a crush on. Serena's grandparents had adopted his aunt Monica during her teen years he supposed much as the Alan and Monica had adopted Emily so although he and Serena shared relatives in their cousins AJ, Emily, Kirk, Katelyn, and Nicole Quartermaine they were not related. He had been looking forward to movie since a week ago when Serena had suggested that perhaps they could do something while their parents were being boring on a Sunday night. Serena's father Scott was the District Attorney and as one of three Assistant District Attorneys his mother Abby frequently had long Sunday night sessions with the man preparing for whatever court engagements they had on Monday.

Brooke rolled her eyes, that was such a baby movie, and she thought her aunt had said Riley was a older than she was, she didn't dare ask who Serena was.

"Actually I still have to finish that biology lab so I may have to skip the movie," his older brother Adam said. He was well aware of his brother's infatuation with his mom's boss' daughter and he also wondered if perhaps Serena had her own crush on him. He didn't have anything against her he supposed she seemed nice enough and was cute but he had never been into younger girls and wasn't planning on changing for her. She had invited him to a party she had hosted a few weekends ago but he had begged off on the pretense of early morning lacrosse practice. She had invited him to go to a concert she just happened to have extra tickets to but he had been fortunate to have had legitimate plans with his grandfather already that night and then she had come up with the movie idea and sprung it on Riley and his mom when he hadn't been around.

"That's fine Adam are you having problems with it? I'm not suggesting I help you but we do have a few doctors in the family I'm sure someone would be happy to help you," John Quartermaine suggested winking at his older brother.

"Well our results didn't really make any sense so I have to at least figure out why and then maybe I could still pass and then next lab we switch partners and I'm working with Katelyn," Adam said referring to their metabolism experiment. He had been paired with Lulu Spencer who wasn't any more scientifically inclined than he was and was apparently in the middle of some boyfriend drama as she had explained as her excuse for not having read the lab ahead of time. Or something like that he had kind of stopped caring after the third time she had cracked her gum.

"Yeah we'd be a good pair I read the labs ahead of time, and you don't hit on me," Katelyn quipped.

"I don't like the sound of that," Edward said.

"It's ok grandfather, Adam's got my back I'm sure and actually after Kyle Morris heard that Jason Morgan was my cousin he's been keeping his hands where they belong. Now participating in the scientific process is another matter but you take what you can get. Seriously Adam I can explain to you how the lab was supposed to work and what results you should have gotten, now as to how you and Lulu got the results you actually did well we could probably come up with something," Katelyn offered.

"Really, it's due on Tuesday though?" Adam asked.

"Yes, and mine is already done, and I do want to go see Brenda and I need to practice my flute, but if you come over around six we can do it," Katelyn offered.

"I appreciate that, I owe you too, but thanks," Adam said.

"No problem we're cousins," Katelyn said as she noticed that her Uncle Ned had reappeared in the doorway to the dining room.

"Mother," Ned began. "Could Lois and I have a word with you?"

"Of course sweetheart," Tracey said but she looked wary.

"Actually this could take awhile, perhaps you would like to give Ryan the keys and let him take Shannon and Dylan home," Ned suggested.

"I drove myself, Kirk and I have a house meeting at the fraternity in a bit anyway," Dylan said. "I can drop Shannon somewhere if you want mom," he offered.

"Sierra and I were going to the mall later anyway," Shannon said.

"That's fine Dylan I'll take her, I seem to recall that before the mall was an option someone needed to clean their room and do laundry," Ryan said.

Shannon made a face, "Sierra has never done laundry in her life and their maid cleans her room," she protested.

"Well when you go off to college and have a color in your wardrobe besides pink you might thank us," Tracey said.

"Why would someone want a color besides pink anyway, its the "IT" color," Shannon protested, but she knew she wasn't getting her way so she stood up and said, "Well thank you for brunch Aunt Monica and Uncle Alan, lets go dad I was supposed to meet Sierra at two and it is after one now,".

"You're very welcome Shannon, enjoy the mall and the laundry," Alan quipped.

"Of course Shannon, and please let us know more details on your dance recital because I'll try to rearrange our call schedules so we can attend," Monica suggested.

"Come on dad, lets go," Shannon said pausing to give her mother and grandfather a half hug.

Ryan gave his wife a lingering hug and then followed his daughter out of the room. Brooke observed the whole interchange without looking up. She was afraid to meet her fathers eyes and was pretty sure that her mother had told him everything. She shuddered as her grandmother followed her father from the room.

"Well on that note we should probably get moving ourselves since visiting hours are only until four and I also need to check on a patient when we return," Monica said as Nicholas Cassidine, hospital pro-counsel for General Hospital burst into the room.

"Alan we have a problem," Nicholas said addressing the Chief of Staff.

"Oh hello Emily you are looking lovely as always," Nicholas continued.

Patrick kind of glared at Nicholas, he had heard all the stories of how once Emily had thought she wanted nothing more than to be with Nicholas but in time she had come to realize that she needed a man who loved her for who she was not trying to mold herself to fit the man she wanted to love. Nicholas had had his chance as far as Patrick was concerned and now it was time for Nicholas to realize he had let a wonderful woman get away but move on. He supposed returning to your fiancée's hometown forced you to run into their former suitors. He felt Emily reach for his hand under the table and he squeezed it lovingly feeling his jealousy dissipate. He was well on his way to calm cool and collected when he heard someone else burst into the dining room.

"I'm sorry Alan, I tried to explain to him that you were probably having Sunday dinner with the family and that this could wait until Monday," a slightly haggard and grey man said. "Monica I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner," he continued turning to face her as well. But then his eyes met another familiar face at the table, "Patrick?" he croaked.

Emily looked nervously at her fiancé and gently rubbed the hand she held under the table with her other hand. Patrick didn't speak to the intruder but instead turned and looked deeply into her eyes and said, "Please tell me you knew nothing about this and weren't keeping this from me. Tell me you knew nothing about this and I'll believe you," he pleaded desperately.


	14. Chapter 13:Quartermaine Family Circus

_Yeah I kind of goofed and skipped a chapter so you will get two at once now when I'm fixing my error :) _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 13: Quartermaine Family Circus

Emily looked into Patrick's eyes with confusion. She gleaned that the man standing in their dining room was her future father in law. She knew that her father had mentioned that he had known Patrick's father in the past but she hadn't realized they had been in contact in years. "I have no idea who this man even is Patrick," she stated honestly.

"I believe you, and I need to get out of here, I'm sorry," Patrick said jumping from the table.

Emily hesitated a moment uncertain what to do, "Go with him Emily, we'll explain all of this later," Monica encouraged hugging her daughter.

"Does anyone else plan on interrupting? Is there a sign on the front lawn family dinner in process please interrupt us?" Edward asked.

"Technically we're done with dinner, come Nicholas and Noah we'll go work through whatever the problem is in my office," Alan said embracing his wife quickly and then leading the other two gentlemen from the room and into his study.

"So what is really going on here mom?" AJ asked curiously.

"Noah is planning to return to General Hospital to practice, it has been a recent decision and your father and I were actually going to sit down with Patrick and Emily and explain that to them tonight in fact, but us Quartermaines sometimes have lousy timing.

AJ chuckled slightly not noticing his wife's inability to meet her mother in law's eyes. "So what are you going to do now?" he asked.

"Well after your father solves whatever crisis Nicholas Cassidine thinks exists then we'll still plan on talking with Emily and Patrick," Monica said.

"Would this be a good time for us to discuss why Nicholas Cassidine is still the hospital attorney?" Edward asked.

"Now father you know that is a topic for the hospital board, anyway I think Nicholas is getting better, it's been at least three days since he thought he had his last crisis," Monica suggested.

"Well two and a half but who is counting?" Edward quipped.

"You obviously," Brooke challenged reminding the family she was still there. Monica smiled remembering when Lois and Ned had been together. Even Edward cracked half a smile.

"Welcome home Brooke," Edward said.

Brooke rolled her eyes, home? it was more like the circus she wondered who was going to show up to create the third ring of the typical three ring circus and laughed a little internally.

"Yes, Brooke-Lynne welcome home, but we really should finish cleaning up and get a move on," Monica agreed.

Fifteen minutes later cleanup was finished and all but the residents of 66 Harbor View Road had departed. The children including Brooke were upstairs preparing to either head back to PCU in Kirk's case or to visit Brenda. Alan emerged from his study with Nicholas and Noah and after they had walked out the door Monica turned to him. "Do I even need to ask?"

"Well apparently because of Dr. Drake's sponsorship we need an additional rider on the hospitals malpractice policy, its really not a problem in fact I had apprised our agent of the situation and its all arranged for the policy renewal," Alan explained.

"So there really wasn't a problem?" Monica asked.

"Well no, and we can either be frustrated that Nicholas overreacted and interrupted or we can be thankful their isn't a problem, let's do that," Alan suggested.

"Let's be thankful Emily came to her senses and got rid of him, what that boy lacks is good common sense," Edward suggested gruffly.

"There is another good point we could be preparing ourselves for years of Nicholas crises, at this point I say we hope that he ventures into corporate law in the next five years. Don't worry father we won't suggest he apply for the junior counsel position at ELQ," Alan quipped.

"You even mention to that boy that ELQ is looking for junior counsel and I might have to usurp your stock options. Anyway I'm optimistic that Kirk, Dylan and Adam will see ELQ into the future, along with Ned it will remain a family corporation," Edward said.

"What about your granddaughters?" Alan asked.

"Well Emily is destined to save children's lives I can't think of a more admirable ambition," Edward said beaming. "I suspect Katelyn and perhaps even Nicole will follow her, now Shannon might be interested if ELQ delved into the fashion industry but Brooke is probably the most likely to have any interest in the corporation. She's smart too, she could be an attorney like her daddy, it must be in her blood by now," Edward fantasized.


	15. Chapter 14:Afraid to Say the Wrong Thing

_I didn't get any feedback about Brazen and somehow the Brenda and Cruz pairing took off in my mind so we'll be seeing a lot more of that. I've given some thought to Jason and Robin perhaps with some significant character growth from Robin. Robin will interfere in Emily & Patricks' marriage and test their trust of each other but she and Patrick will not be having an affair sorry Scrubs fans. We will also see some old characters coming back in interesting ways and the mobular element of the story will take as well as John & Abby Quartermaine attempt to restore peace and honesty in Port Charles. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 14: I Don't Want to Say the Wrong Thing

Emily sat silently as Patrick drove randomly in silence. They had already coursed through Port Charles and then circled the perimeter of the town twice since leaving her parents house. Emily yearned to say something but was uncertain what wouldn't make things worse. Her thoughts were interrupted by the strains of CSNY and she opened her purse and pulled out her cellphone. "Hello," Emily began trying to make her voice sound cheery.

"Hi Em, it's Bren," Brenda began.

"Oh hi I think my mom is bring Kate and Nicole to see you in a bit. Nicole has mentioned little else all day," Emily said.

"Awww, she's such a cutie," Brenda intoned.

"Yeah she is, but what's up?" Emily asked. There was usually a reason when Brenda called her. Small talk over the phone was just not something they did.

"I called Cruz," Brenda admitted shakily.

"That's good, how did things go?" Emily asked.

"He's coming over later, he had some paperwork to do I guess," Brenda attempted to sound ambivalent but Emily sensed the uneasiness. It was a little harder without seeing her face but she could almost imagine that Brenda's eyes were misted and her face was drawn. She supposed that was why they never had serious conversations over the phone.

"Bren, do you want me to come over?" Emily offered.

"No, it's ok. Jason is here now and I'm sure the rest of your family will be here any minute and well really I'll be ok," Brenda said her voice still shaky.

"Well I'll come see you in the morning, and please call if you change your mind or need anything," Emily suggested.

"Thanks Em, you'll leave your phone on?" Brenda asked her voice full of hesitation and uneasiness.

"Of course, hang in there Brenda you can do this," Emily said.

"Bye" Brenda said softly.

"Bye," Emily said closing her phone.

"Is she alright?" Patrick asked.

"Well I suppose that depends on how you define alright," Emily said.

"If she needs you it's ok, I appreciate your moral support during my crazed driving expedition but perhaps it's time to remember I'm thirty one not three and face my father," Patrick said.

"Well crazed driving usually implies road rage, running red lights or at least speeding Patrick, not that I want you to start doing any of the above, but it could be worse," Emily quipped.

"I said I was acting immature Em, not stupid," Patrick quipped back.

"Touché, but I guess Jason is there and my parents and Nicole and Kate will be there shortly, she's in good hands," Emily said as they approached a cluster of small shops including a Border's Bookstore. Patrick signaled and then pulled into the parking lot. Emily looked up at him inquisitively.

"I'm going to hop in and see if they have a copy of The Paper Bag Princess," Patrick explained referring to the book that had come up in their dinner conversation with Brenda. Brenda had never heard of it and Patrick had promised to find her a copy. Emily was touched at how seriously he was taking his mission.

Patrick took her hand as they walked towards Borders. "I love you and whatever this thing with your dad is we'll get through it. Let me know when you're ready for me to call my parents and let them explain," Emily said.

"I love you too, and I just need another hour or so to inhale tranquility or something like that," Patrick said.

"You sound like Lucy Coe," Emily giggled.

"Is she the lady who emailed me to see if I'd be performing at the Nurse's Ball?"

"Yes, that would be Lucy and just what will be your act Dr. Drake?" Emily asked smiling as Patrick opened the door.

"Oh I used the I don't think I'll actually be on staff then excuse," Patrick said coyly.

"Well that may work for this year but brush up on your juggling or something because now that Lucy has brought the Nurse's Ball back I doubt it's going anywhere," Emily said.

"I'll keep that in mind, or plan to schedule vacation during June or something like that," Patrick said leading her over to where the children's books were. They browsed a few minutes and then Emily turned her head and saw someone who looked distinctly like detective Cruz Rodriguez.

"Hang on a minute Patrick I think I saw an old friend," Emily whispered and then crossed over several aisles towards Cruz. "Cruz," Emily called gently and the tall Puerto Rican male looked up from the book he was skimming.

"Emily! Hi!" he embraced her recalling the multiple layers of connections they had. She had been the high school best friend of his former partner, the sister in law of an assault victim unfortunately assaulted by the same former partner, and was perhaps the best friend of his current girlfriend Brenda Barrett.

"I thought that was you, I was just talking to Brenda and she mentioned you were tied up with paperwork all day," Emily said lightly but Cruz caught the disappointment in her tone.

"It wasn't a lie Emily, I was doing some paperwork earlier, and well now I'm just trying to figure out how not to say the wrong thing," Cruz admitted and at that moment Emily caught the title of the book in his hands, Eating Disorders, A Guide for Family & Friends.

"I'm sorry Em, perhaps I should have known, I mean the more I read I think I should have, but I didn't ok," Cruz said sheepishly.

"If it's any consolation I never was really sure until Brenda admitted it and I'm going to be a doctor in a few weeks so I probably should have seen it too. Or maybe I didn't want to see it," Emily lamented sadly.

"I guess what I still don't get is how she can hate herself so much, I mean she's kind, she's beautiful, she's incredibly smart which people don't realize what isn't to love?" Cruz asked.

"I'm not sure where all the self-hate comes from honestly Cruz. Brenda and I have talked about this and I guess there are probably some things about her life we don't know and maybe part of the answer is there," Emily said vaguely. She had a few guesses but it wasn't her place to share Brenda's secrets.

"It won't change how I feel, I love her, I was all ready to propose when she came home from this trip, in fact if I'd been able to get the time off I was going to fly out to LA and surprise her and propose," Cruz said wistfully.

"Awww that's so sweet," Emily said.

"Yeah but now I think the timing is wrong, Brenda has to focus on her recovery and life, I want to be there though and I still want to spend the rest of my life with her," Cruz admitted.

"Just let her know how much you do love her and be there but don't push perhaps," Emily suggested as Patrick joined them carrying a stack of books.

"I found the book Em," Patrick said.

"Great but why do you need thirteen copies?" Emily asked looking at his stack.

"It's a good book, every little girl should have her own copy. I figured we could also give copies to your little sisters and save some for our daughters, you know in case it goes out of print," Patrick said.

"Aaah you're the fiancé I knew you looked familiar," Cruz put things together.

"I'm sorry I was thinking you had met already, yes Cruz this is Dr. Patrick Drake my fiancé and Patrick this is detective Cruz Rodriguez, one of uncle John's colleagues and my friend Brenda's boyfriend," Emily introduced.

"Yes we met at your parents New Years party, Cruz I'd shake your hand but I've got my hands a little full," Patrick joked.

"No problem, can I treat you guys to some biscotti," Cruz offered he really wanted to talk more to Emily about Brenda.

"That sounds great but it's my treat," Patrick offered starting to stride into the middle of the store where he expected to find the coffee shop.

"I meant at Corinthos-Morgan Coffee House," Cruz whispered.

"I know, in the city though the Borders have little coffee shops in them, hang on I'll get Patrick," Emily laughed taking off after her fiancé.

Several minutes later the three were seated in a booth in the Corinthos-Morgan Coffee House along with thirteen copies of Patrick's book in Border's bags. "I don't see why the bookshop didn't have a coffee place, Borders always do," Patrick protested in a slight whine.

"Rumor has it they were afraid to compete with their neighbors because of the mafia connections," Cruz said.

"Or perhaps they just realized that they would have a hard time breaking even when they were literally next door to a place that has much better pastries, drinks, and according to grandfather even better coffee. It might have been just good business sense not fear," Emily suggested.

"Eddie drinks Corinthos-Morgan?" Cruz asked.

"Grandfather wouldn't do well with anyone calling him Eddie. Also I'm not sure he actually realizes that he drinks Corinthos-Morgan but when mom switched to something else he protested that she had gotten the cheap coffee," Emily said smiling.

"I'll have to remember that," Cruz said as the coffee house door opened and Alexis Davis walked through the door with her daughters seven year old Kristina Corinthos-Davis and almost two year old Molly. Kristina came dashing over to their table almost instantly.

"Hi Krissy," Emily said embracing the younger girl. For almost four years she had believed that Kristina was her cousin just like Brooke-Lynn and she and her siblings and parents had vowed to maintain the relationship they had with Kristina in spite of the bitterness that existed between Alexis and Ned. Things had been more challenging during the period where Alexis had been with Ric Lansing but after Ric's death a year ago things had actually been much easier for them. Alexis followed behind with Molly she looked tired and Emily hoped that she wasn't being included in Scott and Abby's war session.

"Sorry about the interruption Emily," Alexis said apologetically.

"It's fine Alexis, we haven't seen Kristina in awhile," Emily said.

"I've been really busy at work and I know Viola and Ashley have been trying to get the girls together but it seems Nicole is pretty busy as well with piano and the swim team," Alexis said.

"Yes she's been practicing a lot she's very excited for the recital next weekend," Emily said innocently.

Kristina's ears perked up and she crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip in a classic Cassadine pout, or at least Emily had seen Nicholas exhibit the same behavior multiple times. "Why does Nicole get to be in the recital and I don't?" Kristina wailed.

"I don't know sweetheart Nicole is in a different group I guess their group is doing the recital this year," Alexis said.

Emily met Alexis' eyes above Kristina's head apologetically and mouthed sorry I didn't know. Alexis smiled back and set Molly down to attempt to coral Kristina who was about to launch into a tantrum as Sonny appeared from his office in the back and scooped up Kristina.

"But I wanted to be in the recital," Kristina wailed.

"Well next year maybe you can be in the recital," Alexis attempted.

"But I wanted to be this year," Kristina wailed.

"But you're getting to do the art show this year, your artwork was selected" Sonny attempted bring in a positive.

"Wow when is that? That must be exciting!" Emily said following Sonny's lead.

"Wednesday after school," Kristina said solemnly wiping at her tears with the back of her hand. "Are you going to come Emily?" she asked stepping out of Sonny's embrace.

"I'll try to make it Kristina I'm doing my NRP resuscitation next Wednesday but I should be free after that. If I can't make it you can bring your art over and we'll set up your own private gallery," Emily promised.

"Ok, maybe I can show Ned too," Kristina asked hopefully causing Emily's heart to ache. She knew that Ned had been deeply hurt when it was public that Kristina was really Sonny's daughter. Sonny had been quick and happy to hop into the father role and Ned had disappeared from her life. But sadly it wasn't really that simple as Kristina had bonded with Ned and missed him terribly. Still three years later Ned didn't acknowledge the relationship he had once had with Kristina.

"Kristina, look at mommy I have to go I'll be late to meet Scott and Abby but I'll be back to pick you up after dinner. Be good for your dad. Her spelling words are in her backpack they have a quiz tomorrow if you want to run through them after dinner that would be great," Alexis suggested.

"Come on girls, daddy has some work to finish up and then we'll go home and make a nice dinner," Sonny said cheerily picking up Molly and reaching for Kristina's hand.

"Can't we go out to dinner?" Kristina protested but she did go with them.

"No daddy will make lasagna," they heard Sonny's voice as they disappeared into his office.

"So the godfather is actually a good father?" Patrick quipped when Sonny was out of earshot.

"Yeah, I think he is, if you put aside some of the things he does. I guess that just isn't something I could easily separate," Emily admitted.

"Well I was always under the impression that was why Brenda finally left him for good," Cruz suggested warily.

"I think it was a big part of it, but really this isn't a conversation we should be having I don't think," Emily said.

"Wait Brenda dated Corinthos?" Patrick asked his head swimming, he felt like he was tuning into a soap opera late in the season not just chatting with his fiancée and an old friend.

"Yes, Brenda and Sonny were quite serious at different points when she was in college, but I don't think it would be any more appropriate for us to dissect her past relationships than for her to be telling everyone how I was once completely infatuated with Nicholas Cassidine," Emily said.

"I think I missed that?" Cruz said.

"Well yeah I went through an extended Nicholas infatuation period where I tried to figure out how to be his type well and then a lot of things changed Alli died and I realized that I was Emily and I didn't want to be anyone else, corny I know but well what can I say?" Emily explained.

Patrick leaned over and kissed her, "That is basically the theme of The Paper Bag Princess, you just didn't have to have your castle burned down by a nasty dragon to come to your senses" he said.

"Maybe I should read that book," Cruz wondered.

"Well actually Patrick started on his quest to find a copy to give to Brenda so maybe she will share," Emily said smiling.

"Am I in way over my head?" Cruz asked.

"I think we all are at times, Brenda said something very important yesterday and that was that no one can really save you from yourself. I agree that is true, but I don't think there is any problem with having support as you save yourself, or slay the dragons," Emily said.

"So I support without smothering," Cruz suggested.

"Yes," Emily agreed.

"That's hard to do," Cruz admitted.

"Yes I'm sure it is but if you love Brenda you have to try," Emily said.

"I love Brenda," Cruz said firmly.

"Then you have to try," Patrick echoed as the coffee shop door opened again and Dr. Robin Scorpio entered.

Robin appeared distracted as she walked quickly past them to the counter where she ordered an iced mocha from the barista. Impatiently she turned around while waiting for her drink to be prepared and spotted Patrick, Emily, and Cruz. Running into Patrick on three consecutive days was just to much and she didn't even suppress her desire to pull her hair out literally.

"Isn't that Comissioner Scorpio's stepdaughter, Brenda is friends with her?" Cruz asked.

"Robin, she's his niece, Maxie and Georgie are his stepdaughters," Emily clarified. She carefully refrained from commenting on Brenda and Robin's friendship as she had gotten the impression from Brenda that they had largely grown a part.

"Maxie is the one who overdosed on Ecstasy that was laced with cocaine right?" Cruz asked.

Emily and Patrick both looked at him curiously. "I'm not sure," she admitted.

"Sorry," Cruz said sheepishly looking down at his coffee. "It was about a year ago, at the time it was in all the papers because she was nineteen so she wasn't a protected minor and because someone leaked the story to the press, your mom was pretty involved if I remember correctly because it was an issue because of her transplant, Also if I remember correctly Mac was furious because it wasn't the first time it had happened a few years before when she was dating that punk Kyle Ratcliffe as well," Cruz explained.

"Well what you're describing sounds like Maxie but I was unaware any of this happened. I'm going to go say hi to Robin, excuse me a moment," Emily said getting up from their booth.

Emily joined Robin at the counter where she was waiting for her drink. "Hi! I haven't seen you in awhile how is your practice and everything going," Emily asked.

"Good, I hear you're joining us for your residency," Robin said trying to stay calm but Patrick's mere presence was annoying her.

"Yep, Patrick told me he ran into you in the hospital cafeteria the other night, he's so in love with their cheesecake. Ok he's so in love with anyone's cheesecake when we're visiting my parents and following that heart healthy ADA diet," Emily said.

"No, your dad announced it at the last med staff meeting," Robin said.

"He did? Oh great I didn't want him to do that I so do not want any special treatment that's why I went away to Columbia for medical school in the first place," Emily said a little irritated.

"Relax Emily! He just read the names of the 12 new housestaff that would be joining us in late June. He made no specific mention that you were related," Robin said.

"Oh good," Emily said relieved. "Hey I still haven't gotten a wedding invitation in the mail to you because I didn't have your new address and my mom was supposed to get it but I can drop an invitation off to you. We're having the ceremony at Trinity of course and then the reception at my parents and it will be as small as grandfather allows, and still probably a little bigger than either Patrick or I want but what can you do?" Emily joked as the barista handed Robin her drink and Robin fumbled in her purse for some money.

"Actually do you want to join us?" Emily offered. "I think you know Detective Rodriguez and you obviously know Patrick," .

"No I've got a bunch of stuff I've got to get done this afternoon before I go back to work tomorrow," Robin made up an excuse, in actuality she had planned to spend a few hours relaxing in the Coffee Shop with the Sunday paper.

"Ok well we should get together some night and catch up," Emily offered.

"Yeah sure, I still have your cell number I'll give you a call," Robin said heading for the door.

Emily rejoined Patrick and Cruz, "Is it just me or was that weird?" she asked.

"Well I don't think Robin is one of my greatest fans, I've tried to explain to her that I've grown up but I think actions speak louder than words so perhaps if I just act professionally and treat her with respect then she'll come around," Patrick suggested.

"I'm lost," Cruz said.

"I did my neurosurgery residency at the same place Robin did medical school she was one of my students and I guess I was a little bit of a jerk. I mean nothing really out of line but I was busy working one hundred or more hours a week and sometimes medical students can actually double or triple your work rather than make things easier," Patrick admitted.

"Well at least you can recognize your faults and change," Cruz suggested.

"Oh I've had a lot of help, thanks to my beautiful bride to be," Patrick said turning and giving Emily a chaste kiss.

"What is it they say behind every good man is an even better woman?" Cruz asked.

"Something like that, and at times the converse needs to be true as well," Patrick said.

"That's almost profound," Cruz agreed.

Emily just laughed.

* * *

Next Up in Chapter 15: Well Here We Are 

-Lois, Ned, and Tracy put aside their differences to do what is right for Brooke-Lynn

-Emily & Patrick are ready to Listen to Alan's explanation about Noah.


	16. Chapter 15:Well Here We Are

For the Love of Family

Chapter 15: Well Here We Are

After Cruz had left them to visit Brenda, Emily looked at Patrick carefully. "Are you ready for me to call my parents?" she asked.

"Not really but it's something we need to do. Perhaps we could do this on neutral territory?" Patrick suggested.

"Well mom had mentioned something about dinner at the Port Charles Grille," Emily suggested referring to the restaurant in the Port Charles Hotel.

"Doesn't your family own that place?" Patrick asked.

"Well yes, where were you thinking of?" Emily asked.

"I'm not sure, I suppose the Port Charles Grille is ok, no offense but your grandfather isn't coming is he?" Patrick asked.

Emily smiled, she loved her grandfather dearly but could see Patrick's point, tranquility and Edward Quartermaine were rarely used in the same sentence.

"No, I believe he's actually babysitting to allow Mom and Dad to go out with us, Ashley has the weekend off," she informed Patrick.

"That's almost comical to think of the CEO of a Fortune 500 company babysitting," Patrick quipped.

"Well someone has to watch the grandchildren, and you need grandchildren otherwise you have no heirs," Emily explained.

"Interesting point," Patrick admitted. "Go ahead call your mom,".

Emily retrieved her cell phone from her purse and dialed her mother's cell. Monica answered on the second ring. "This is Dr. Quartermaine," she said professionally.

"Mom, it's Em. If you and dad still wanted to do dinner tonight at the Grille Patrick and I would love to join you. Would six be alright? I want Patrick to get decent sleep tonight because he needs to make the drive back to the city tomorrow," Emily asked.

"Dinner sounds great but your dad was going to the OR with an emergency appendectomy so six might be a little tight. I'll go ahead and make reservations for six but if it looks like your father will be held up I'll call you," Monica suggested.

"Ok, we'll see you then," Emily said.

"I love you, bye" Monica said.

"Was that daddy?" Nicole asked inquisitively as she walked with her sister, and cousin to where her mom had parked in the physicians lot.

"No, your father is still in the OR, that was your sister we're going out to dinner with her and Patrick this evening," Monica explained.

"Yay!" Nicole cheered.

"I think by we're she means her and dad, not us Nicole," Katelyn pointed out.

"Please may I go," Nicole asked as they reached Monica's car.

"Don't you have plans with your grandfather tonight?" Monica asked.

"Oh yeah I forgot, we're watching 101 Dalmatians, my turn to pick. When he picked last time we watched The Money Tree," Nicole said.

"I can see how that was a little over your head," Monica admitted perhaps I should talk to him about what he selects for these movie nights.

"Well he picks good stuff sometimes, that one about the dog wasn't bad," Nicole admitted as Monica helped her fasten herself into her booster seat.

As Monica pulled out of the Physicians lot Katelyn asked, "Before we get to far do we have baking cups at home?"

"I think so, why?" Monica asked.

"I forgot the Habitat for Humanity Bake Sale is tomorrow, I need to make cupcakes," Katelyn said.

"Do you have any homework left to do?" Monica asked.

"That needs to be done by tomorrow? No. My math problem set is due Tuesday though and I wanted to finish it today. Maybe it won't take me too long to help Adam with the lab and I'll get it done. I think I only have two more problems left," Katelyn said.

"Alright, I do appreciate you helping your cousin," Monica said.

"Well Lulu can be hard to work with I had to work with her for one of the earlier labs and I ended up doing the whole thing myself. She always seems to have something going on in her life that interferes with school," Katelyn said.

"Well I think Lulu's definitely had a challenging time, her mother isn't well, I think her father is pretty overwhelmed with everything, and her brother can't really be there for her because he's dealing with his own issues," Monica said diplomatically. She remembered when Lucky had been at their house almost daily hanging out with Alli and Emily and how deeply she knew he had cared for both of her daughters. Then her thoughts shifted to Lucky's assault of her daughter in law that had resulted in a nearly fatal miscarriage. It was hard to believe it was the same person who had fixed Emily's broken music box, one of her last gifts from Paige.

"I'm sure, it's not easy, I'm really not judging her mom," Katelyn said.

"Good, that's my girl," Monica said turning onto Lilac Drive.

A few moments later when the re-entered the house Monica noted that the door to the family room was still shut. She couldn't believe that Ned, Lois, and Tracy were still talking. "Kate would it help you if I made your cupcakes?" Monica offered.

"Yes, I just didn't want ask since it was so last minute. I really totally forgot all about it," Katelyn said.

"It's not a problem, Brooke would you like to help?" Monica asked.

Brooke realized Monica wasn't really asking if she wanted to help, because she didn't. No she was telling her she would help, she hated it when adults did that, but she figured that she was in enough trouble and she didn't want to add anymore to it. "Sure," she said and plastered on a fake smile.

"May I help too?" Nicole asked.

"If you want but I thought you wanted to practice for your recital before dinner," Monica said.

"Yeah I guess," Nicole said but she looked torn. "If I practice now can I decorate the cupcakes after dinner?" she asked.

"Sure, I think we still have some of those candy houses," Monica suggested leading Brooke to the kitchen, as Nicole turned to go to the living room to practice.

Meanwhile behind the closed double doors that led into the family room Tracy Quartermaine-Graber took a deep breath and raised her head from her hands, "Ok let me see if I understand all of this ok?" she asked.

Lois nodded uneasily and waited for her former mother in law to continue. "So last Thursday Brooke-Lynne and her friends decided to steal a car, drive to New Jersey, where they planned to buy Ecstasy. However, they picked the right people to buy from because they actually purchased it from an undercover cop so they didn't actually have the opportunity to try it out. However, said undercover cop also realized that they were driving a stolen vehicle and no one in the car was actually a licensed driver. So you get a call and drive to New Jersey to pick up Brooke where they inform you that the case is being remanded to Family Court in New York and that she can't be released into your custody because you showed poor judgement in letting her go with friends in a stolen car," Tracy summed.

"Yes because I clearly told her that it was ok to go with friends, steal a car and go to New Jersey. How irresponsible of a parent do you think I am, she was supposed to be in school," Lois interrupted.

"Lois, I was just summarizing the situation I didn't really think you gave Brooke permission to do multiple illegal things that could have killed her in several different ways," Tracy said. "Anyway so Brooke is transported back to New York and your mother is allowed to sign her out the next day. She promptly drops her at your house and leaves for a cruise. You decide to come here to get Ned's opinion on how to get Brooke out of this mess, if that is even possible. You do realize that if anyone realizes she's back in your custody that she will probably end up back in the youth detention center until the hearing right?" Tracy finished.

"Well what was I supposed to do, just leave her father out of this?" Lois asked.

"Not that anything has stopped you from doing that before," Ned interjected.

"Ned that doesn't help, the two of you need to put your differences aside for a few minutes and realize that your daughter is trouble. First lets consider the multiple risks she took and realize that instead of getting a call that your daughter is being processed as a juvenile offender you could have been getting a call that your daughter was dead. But Brooke was lucky at least this time, so we work on preventing the next time and we deal with the consequences, and yes there will be consequences there isn't any way to just make this go away and I honestly think that wouldn't be in Brooke's best interest anyway," Tracy said.

"So you think it is in Brooke's best interest to be locked up in some facility where I can see her once a weekend?" Lois said.

"I'm not saying that, I'm not even saying that Brooke shouldn't be in your care. But first I have to ask is there more to this than this one time incident? You mentioned that three of the girls were released to their parents. One other girl was found to have marijuana on her person and was thought to be the driver. But Brooke was the youngest, and not driving, why was she treated differently. I'm sorry Lois, I'm sure this is difficult but I need to know the whole story if I'm going to help," Tracy said.

"Well Brooke has been skipping school, Thursday wasn't the first time, they filed a PINS (Person In Need of Supervision) last month well and she's been in some fights at school," Lois admitted.

"Were you even planning on sharing this with me?" Ned asked.

"That's really not important now Ned, so Brooke was already in trouble before this even happened. Is there anything more?" Tracy asked.

"Well about a month ago they did a random locker search and they found alcohol and marijuana in hers. At the time she swore it wasn't hers a friend had put it in there but would never identify the friend," Lois admitted.

"Random locker searches never hold up in court," Ned offered.

"Right, the attorney we were given told us that and in the end they didn't even charge her but the whole thing came up at the PINS hearing," Lois said.

"Well given everything you've said I think its very unlikely the court will decide to leave Brooke in your sole custody," Tracy admitted.

"I'm not really sure that is a bad thing mother," Ned said wryly.

"Perhaps it wouldn't be if both of Brooke's parents could come together and support her. If you don't want your daughter going to a youth facility your best tack is probably for Ned as the nonrespondent father to petition for custody and to support Lois' request for supervised visitation and parenting classes. Then you get Brooke evaluated by a decent psychiatrist and psychologist and find out what is really going on," Tracy suggested.

"Wait so you want me to give up custody of my child, send her to a shrink and degrade myself with parenting classes," Lois was fuming.

"No I want you to continue to be involved in Brooke's life and help her build a relationship with her father. You can hate him Lois, I agree that he made some choices that perhaps you never need to forgive but you share a child, a child who is in deep trouble and needs the two of you to come together," Tracy said feeling as if she was delivering a judgement in her court. She supposed in a way she was.

"Can't you just call in a favor and get her out of this mess, Brooke is really a good kid," Lois pleaded.

"I really can't and I don't think just getting Brooke out this mess is what she needs. There is something going on and we have to get to the bottom of it. I fortunately don't have the gang experience some judges do, one of the few things PCPD has done right in the last ten years was to get rid of the two youth gangs the Flames and the Stallions. It took several of our brightest young people dying in the crossfire and it took them working together with the DA's office, the family court system, the mayor, and other state and national law enforcement agencies but for once people managed to put their egos aside and do it. Now if we could only do something about another form of organized crime. But Lois be honest this smacks of gang involvement perhaps getting out of the city is the best thing that could happen," Tracy argued.

"She's not in a gang Tracy," Lois protested.

"Are you sure?" Tracy asked.

"Good grief Tracy you make it sound like I don't know my own kid," Lois said.

"In my experience parents often don't know their children well enough. What I can do is call the judge handling this in Kings County I'm not going to tell them what to do and I'm not asking for a favor but most judges won't turn down a logical plan that appears to be in the best interests of the child," Tracy suggested.

"So you're saying you won't help us," Lois whined.

"Actually I'm trying to help Brooke-Lynne," Tracy said.

"Lois she has a point," Ned admitted. "Will your mother be back for the hearing?" he asked realizing another potential pitfall.

"They're going to Italy, they aren't going to be back for three weeks," Lois said.

"Well it's going to look bad on Thursday when you parade into court with your daughter then. What you need to do is call whoever the caseworker is say your mother had to go out of town and left Brooke with you and you are taking her to her father since you realize that you aren't supposed to have unsupervised custody with her until the hearing. You should call now she probably has voicemail that will make it look like a good faith effort on your part. Then Monday I call the caseworker and see if we can get Brooke's guardianship transferred to me until the hearing," Ned suggested.

"So you expect me to just leave her here?" Lois asked.

Ned hesitated, "Well I have some extra room you and Brooke could both stay with me until the hearing," he finally said not making eye contact with his ex-wife.

"Actually Ned, that is probably not a good plan however, Lois is welcome to stay with us, we have plenty of room. I think it will look like more of a good faith effort if you don't have them both living with you," Tracy said.

"Good point mother, so what do you say Lois, is it time we both stepped up to the plate and parented?" Ned asked.

"You say that like I wasn't before, I didn't raise her for twelve years just to turn her over to you," Lois protested.

"Lois, I know we've never been close, and I'm well aware that you've never liked me, but I love your daughter my only granddaughter and I believe that she deserves a relationship with both parents as I've tried to appeal to you over the years. I won't allow Ned to take over and raise her alone either, I think we can work this out eventually to shared custody," Tracy said.

"But shared custody implies we both live in the same town and I am not moving to Port Charles for good," Lois said adamantly.

"Why don't we just try to get through the next six months?" Tracy suggested.

"Six months is a long time," Lois said.

"Sometimes it can be, if we don't come up with a plan and your daughter dies as a result of another dangerous choice in that period it will seem like seconds. If Brooke does end up going to youth detention for six months to a year it will seem like ages. I think it's pretty clear what we need to do here," Tracy suggested.

Frustrated Lois sighed and took out her cell phone and a few cards from her purse. She made the call Ned had suggested stating that she would ask Brooke's father to call on Monday morning to try to arrange to have her guardianship transferred. "You're doing the right thing," Ned said, "We'll get through this," he promised as he gave her hand a squeeze.

"So how do we break the news to Brooke?" Lois asked.

"I'll talk to her," Tracy offered surprising herself once the words were out. She didn't know her granddaughter well she couldn't really be the best person to break the news. But all that Lois had revealed scared her for the child. She was pretty sure they would either be figuring out how to get through to Brooke or they really would lose her for good. In spite of her son's bravado she knew he realized that truth as well and he cared deeply. Tracy only hoped it wasn't too late.

"Mother while we appreciate the offer Brooke barely knows you, of course she barely knows me either," Ned admitted wryly.

"Actually it's not a bad idea," Lois agreed.


	17. Chapter 16: Cousins

For the Love of Family

Chapter 16: Cousins

Emily brushed out her long light brown mane and pulled the top part back away from her face in a clip allowing the back to fall beneath her shoulders. She picked up a lipstick from her dressing table and applied a little color to her lips, closed the tube and tossed it into the open small black purse on her table. She stood up from the dressing table bench and slipped her feet into a pair of lavender heels and took a few steps to survey her reflection in the full length mirror. Her lavender dress had a fitted bodice, and spaghetti straps but then it flowed into a long flowing skirt with a little flounce around the hemline. She actually hadn't worn the dress in over a year but had been searching her closet for something suitable to wear to the Port Charles Grille and had recalled when she had fallen in love with the color while shopping with her mother and Keesha. Satisfied with her appearance she placed her keys and cell phone into her purse, closed it, and then ventured from her room hitting the light switch on the way out.

She was about to go see if Patrick was ready when Brooke and Katelyn came upstairs. Brooke was scowling. "I don't see why I can't just wear this," she protested.

"Ripped jeans and t-shirts aren't exactly going to go over well at the Port Charles Grille," Katelyn said.

"Oh are you joining us for dinner?" Emily tried to act nonchalant but she had expected dinner to be just the four of them. She loved Nicole and Kate dearly but she didn't think in this case they would help the conversation. Also if her whole family was going to be involved why were they going out? she wondered.

"No, I'm helping Adam with his lab, and Nicole and grandfather are having their movie night, but Aunt Tracy is taking Brooke out to dinner so I'm supposed to be finding her something to wear," Katelyn explained.

"Do I have to wear something like that?" Brooke didn't mask her distaste rolling her eyes.

"Actually probably a long skirt and a silk shell or something would be fine," Emily tried to be helpful.

Brooke rolled her eyes again but she followed Katelyn into her room, as Emily went off in search of Patrick.

Brooke surveyed Katelyn's room again which was all done in various shades of pink and rose. Her eyes tracked from the huge four poster bed that seemed to be over spilling with pillows and stuffed animals, to the wall completely full of ribbons, medals, and trophies from various swim meets, to her tidy desk with a closed laptop sitting on the top. She was taking in the music stand which looked like it was hand carved perhaps when Katelyn emerged from her closet with four skirts.

"These are lower calf or so length on me but you're a little shorter so they would probably be about ankle length. Do you like any of them?" she asked.

Brooke looked at the skirts two were a floral print which she despised another was a khaki tan material and the final one was black and made out of that shimmery sparkly material. She reached for the black one. "Actually that one is around ankle length on me but you could probably put it up above your waist and get away with it, plus I have some black heels you could borrow that would keep it from dragging on the ground," Katelyn rambled.

"I'm not wearing heels," Brooke protested.

"Yeah I don't really like them either honestly, Shannon is always going on about how they're slimming to your legs but I just find them uncomfortable," Katelyn admitted.

"Shannon seems like a priss," Brooke said.

"No, she just comes across that way at times, she can be a little manipulative but Aunt Tracy and Uncle Ryan really don't let her get away with too much. Actually if you like the black one you could try this skirt instead, and it would look ok with flats," Katelyn offered pulling out another black skirt.

Brooke took the skirt and reluctantly slipped off her shoes and jeans while Katelyn picked the other four skirts up off the chair and hung them back in her closet. When she turned around Brooke was wearing the skirt which came a little above her ankles. "That looks nice," Katelyn commented.

"I'm not really a skirt person, and I am not wearing silk," Brooke retorted.

"Well I have a few scooped neck tops that are that cotton and lycra blend everyone is into now. Probably not pink huh?" Katelyn laughed nervously.

Brooke shared the laugh in spite of herself, "Uhh no."

"How about white then, actually that may make your outfit look a little more formal anyway," Katelyn offered.

Brooke shrugged, "Ok and uhh thanks for helping me," she said.

"No problem you're my cousin," Katelyn said crossing the room to her dresser and pulling an unopened pack of stockings from the top drawer. She handed those to Brooke as well.

"So is your life really as perfect as it seems?" Brooke asked.

Katelyn hesitated it almost sounded like one of Lulu Spencer's taunts but Brooke had asked it in a more genuine and almost sad longing way. "Perfect? Well no I'd be lying if I didn't say I still even years later have days or moments where I so deeply miss Alli or grandmother that it hurts. but I'm surrounded by love so it balances out I suppose," Katelyn said.

"Hmmm" Brooke mumbled.

"Well I'm going to go say goodbye to mom and dad before they head out to dinner with Em and Patrick, you can change in my room and there are a few pairs of black flats in my closet you can borrow the pair that fits the best," Katelyn said turning to leave the room.


	18. Chapter 17: Words From the Heart

For the Love of Family

Chapter 17: Words From the Heart

Later at the Port Charles Grille, Alan, Monica, Emily, and Patrick were sitting quietly at a table of to the edge of the main dining room. Anyone observing would have taken it for a nice evening out perhaps to celebrate the couple's engagement. However, as Alan pretended to glance over the menu he debated how to phrase his words. Their server approached the table, "Good evening I'm Ramona can I start you off with a bottle of wine or appetizers," she offered.

"I'm on call tonight so I'll have to pass on the alcohol, I'll have a perrier with lime though Ramona. Patrick or Emily if you would like to select a bottle of wine that is fine," Alan suggested.

"Sorry dad, I still don't drink. Could I have water with lemon?".

"For you sir?" Ramona turned to Patrick.

"Water is fine," Patrick agreed. He wouldn't say he didn't drink although he could perhaps count on one hand the number of alcoholic beverages he had consumed in the past six months.

"And finally for you ma'am," Ramona addressed Monica.

"The perrier with lemon please,".

"Are you also ready to order or do you need a few more minutes?" Ramona asked.

Alan glanced around the table, "Patrick would you like to start?" he asked.

"Alright I'll have the filet mignon with the baked potato and broiled vegetables," Patrick began.

"What kind of dressing on your salad?"

"Blue cheese," Patrick said.

Ramona took the rest of the orders and then went to get their drinks. After she had brought back their drinks and some fresh bread sticks and then left again, Alan took a sip of his sparkling water, took a deep breath, and a moment of silent prayer and then turned to his soon to be son in law. "I'm sorry that things worked out the way they did this afternoon at brunch. Monica and I had planned to sit down with you both and discuss everything to prevent exactly that situation but we had no idea that Nicholas and your father would be joining us," he began nervously.

"Well Nicholas' timing isn't exactly what he is known for," Emily quipped forcing a smile and the entire table laughed slightly. But it was that uneasy forced fake laughter.

"What does Nicholas have to do with my father?" Patrick asked.

"Well when Alexis went to the DA's office full time, Nicholas Cassidine took over the hospital counsel position. It wasn't perhaps the smoothest transition I suppose and Nicholas has struggled but I really think that he's getting the hang of things and providing father doesn't turn the entire hospital board against him in the next six months I think he's on the verge of becoming quite competent,". Alan said.

"Didn't you say that last year at this time though?" Emily wondered aloud.

"Well yes, I suppose I was overly optimistic about the rate of Nicholas' improvement. Still he is improving."

"I'm sure," Patrick said wryly. "But you still haven't explained what this has to do with my father."

"Well a few weeks ago your father approached me about rejoining the medical staff at PCGH so Nicholas has been working on some of the paperwork regarding that."

"You do realize that my father voluntarily surrendered his license," Patrick said.

Emily looked at him with surprise, as if to say but I thought you hadn't spoken.

"It's public record Emily, just like it's public record that Dr. Kevin Collins did and that Dr. Tony Jones had a restricted one his last few years of practice. Listen Alan I'm not telling you what to do but you may want to think twice about turning PCGH into the place where every doctor who can't get privileges everywhere else goes. Forgiving is great but sometimes you have to think of patient safety as well," Patrick said.

Emily reached for her fiancé's hand under the table again. She didn't like the tone Patrick was taking with her father and suspected that there was more to the story than perhaps Patrick understood. But she realized perhaps his frustration wasn't so much with her father as with his own.

"You raise a very valid point, and the decision to bring your father back onto staff at the hospital was not a decision made in haste by anyone. First I discussed the situation with Monica, Dr. Krasnick, Dr. Thornhart and Dr. Burgess-Harmon the other members of our Medical Staff Executive Committee who in turn discussed this with the state Physician oversight committee, and finally your father's appointment was approved by the Hospital Board. Taking on any physician who has had issues in the past is a risk but in your fathers case his efforts to get help were all voluntary. He didn't resign to avoid facing further consequences," Alan explained.

"Or at least he didn't tell you he did," Patrick challenged.

"No, I spoke with the program he was in and I reviewed all of the documentation. Your father was honest with me, which made things easier. I knew when we started this process that it had the potential to be awkward for you, which is why we wanted to talk to you about it before you were blindsided with it."

"I just think you're making a mistake," Patrick said.

"Perhaps your dad deserves a second chance," Emily suggested.

"Perhaps," Patrick conceded.

"You know we've talked about trying to contact him, we've prayed about it so perhaps this is really God's plan and we should try to go with it," Emily continued.

"Your father did say today that if you wanted him to he would leave," Alan admitted.

"Really? How likely is it that he could find someone else to take him?" Patrick was surprised.

"I don't know, honestly Patrick if you look at rehabilitated physicians your dad's case raises many less red flags than others. He never faced true sanctions legally his license surrendering wasn't much different than when you allowed your Connecticut license to lapse upon moving to New York."

"Not exactly, first of all I didn't allow my Connecticut license to lapse I renewed it last year just to keep my options open since I had no idea where Emily might want to go for residency, and I doubt that if my father hadn't voluntarily surrendered that he wouldn't have faced some kinds of sanctions although I suppose that will never be certain,".

"I guess that was a bad example, although the point is that many times physicians do not reach out for help until they are already facing sanctions is what I'm saying. Also to avoid Nicholas having another crisis in the middle of your wedding or something do me a favor and fax a copy of your Connecticut license to my secretary when you get a chance because our credentialing person actually didn't realize you were still licensed in Connecticut."

"I'm also licensed in Pennsylvania and Georgia do you want those too?" Patrick asked.

"Patrick dear why are you licensed in random states?" Monica asked.

"Well I did medical school in Georgia and then residency in Connecticut and I was all set to take a position in Philadelphia but then Cornell offered me a lot more money but I felt I had already committed to the other group but then when they tried to alter my contract I basically told them that I had turned down a better offer because I felt I had given them my word and I wasn't pleased with them going back on theirs it got a little ugly and they released me from my contract and I took the Cornell job. You and Alan are both licensed in Pennsylvania as well but neither of you have practiced there."

"I did my Cardiology fellowship there, and at the time we considered moving for good so Alan worked through all the licensing hurdles. But then things happened and we decided that we needed to stay closer to family," Monica explained.

"Yet, what fifteen years later you still are licensed in another state as well, because you have nothing to hide, my father has things to hide, that was my point."

"Patrick, on some level we probably all have things we regret in life. I admit that part of my desire to give your father a second chance is because I once respected him and considered him a friend. At one time I thought he was a very good surgeon. But if the personal aspect wasn't there I would take a risk on someone like him especially given the situation we've had with trying to find neurosurgeons. I can believe another hospital would do the same, but I think you have to realize that your father perhaps was reaching out in offering to leave if it made you uncomfortable," Alan suggested.

"Do you think that perhaps your dad chose to come to Port Charles knowing you would be here?" Emily wondered.

"Actually he didn't realize that you were coming until after he had asked to do physician sponsorship at PCGH. However, when I told him that you would be here, I thought it was only fair, he seemed optimistic and he did mention that perhaps it was why God had led him back to Port Charles," Alan was completely honest with them. If they were going to help Patrick and Noah repair their relationship he knew he couldn't be anything less.

"Perhaps he was right? Is he living here in Port Charles?" Patrick asked.

"He's renting an apartment yes, and I think he's been looking at a few houses in town," Alan said.

"When does he officially start at PCGH?"

"You will both be starting at the end of June if that is alright with you. Dr. Kraznik's mother is having surgery in July and he was hoping to be off a good portion of that month so we wanted the transition to happen before that," Alan explained.

"That will be fine, Emily starts the third week in June right?" Patrick confirmed.

"Yes, in recent years Dr. Burgess-Harmon has found it helpful to have the new interns start a week early and spend that last week working with the about to graduate PGY3 or PGY5 residents. Go ahead and request that week for next year because Emily will have automatic vacation for a week when the next years new interns arrive," Alan said smiling.

"I'm seeing a delayed honeymoon," Patrick smiled broadly.

"So does this mean that you're willing to try working at the same hospital as your father?" Alan asked.

"I guess it does. But that's only half of it I'm also willing to try to salvage what we have left," Patrick said.

"Patrick that is wonderful," Monica gushed.

"It is a beginning; I'll be coming back for another three day weekend in a few weeks because we'll be closing on the house so perhaps we could get together then. I hate to drag you into this but perhaps neutral territory is good at first," Patrick suggested.

"You aren't dragging us into this, you're family now Patrick and Alan and I want to help you," Monica said.

"She's very right, I'm sure your father will be glad to join us for dinner one evening. Perhaps a night when Katelyn and Nicole are at John and Abby's perhaps," Alan said.

"Actually perhaps a night when grandfather is taking Nicole out or something. I love him dearly but calm and grandfather don't usually go together well in a sentence," Emily suggested.

"That is a better idea Emily, I agree," Alan smiled.

"You're a wise woman, that is reason number 108 why I'm marrying you," Patrick smiled and kissed his fiancée gently.

As the terminated their kiss Emily looked up to see the Maitre D leading Tracy and a sulking Brooke-Lynn to a table three tables past theirs. "Brooke doesn't look very happy," she observed.

"Did we ever find out what is going on?" Alan asked.

"No, they were still holed up in your study when we came back from the hospital. I tried to distract Brooke and we made cupcakes for Kate's bake sale. Then the three of them came in when we were finishing up and announced that Tracy was taking Brooke to dinner at the Grille and Ned suggested maybe Kate had something appropriate she could wear. Actually she looks quite cute in that skirt perhaps Kate should let her keep it," Monica said watching her great niece shuffle past.

"Do you think maybe something is wrong with Lois? Didn't her father have cancer of some kind, I remember she mentioned that once when mommy was still alive," Emily said wistfully. Patrick noted how she referred to Paige as mommy and Monica as mom or mother. The terms perhaps reflected the age but in a way it was convenient that Paige would always be her mommy yet it allowed her to recognize the parental role Monica had taken in her life as well.

"If I recall correctly Lois' father had Pancreatic Cancer likely due to his chronic alcohol use or abuse. It was at a pretty advanced stage when it was discovered, as pancreatic cancer often is," Alan explained.

"Isn't it a little odd that Ned and Lois aren't joining them for dinner?" Emily asked.

"Perhaps your aunt just wanted to spend some time with her granddaughter one on one, you know your grandfather enjoys that," Alan suggested.

"Yes, actually your father was quite upset she wasn't joining in for movie night with him and Nicole," Monica said.

Across the room Brooke peered over her menu. When her parents had come into the kitchen the last thing she had expected was that she was going out for a fancy dinner. Tracy regarded her granddaughter; she was only a few years younger than Tracy's youngest Shannon. Shannon loved dinner at the Grille from getting all dressed up, to the potential to run into local celebrities like super model Brenda Barrett, Couture Magazine editor Kate Howard or musician Andrew Carp. But Brooke wasn't Shannon, she looked uncomfortable, and Tracy realized her mistake.

"I bet you'd rather go somewhere and get a burger and fries right?" Tracy asked.

"No, this is fine," Brooke tried to be polite.

"I'll tell you what, they have wonderful desserts. I particularly recommend the caramel cheesecake. When the waiter comes we'll order some dessert to go and then I take you for the best burger you've ever tasted," Tracy said.

"Umm ok," Brooke said nervously. She didn't understand why her grandmother was being so nice.

"So do you want the caramel cheesecake or something else?" Tracy asked.

"What about the death by chocolate cake?" Brooke asked.

"Also an excellent choice," Tracy agreed.

"Ok, I'll have that," Brooke said as their waiter approached.

"I'm sorry Jordan but we'll need a caramel cheesecake, and a death by chocolate cake to go," Tracy said.

"Of course Judge Quartermaine-Grabler there isn't a problem is there?" Jordan asked nervously.

"No problem Jordan, dessert is just too good to pass up," Tracy said.

A few minutes later Jordan returned with a take out bag with the two cakes inside. Tracy laid a fifty dollar bill on the table and then guided Brooke towards the exit.

Back at their table Monica and Alan watched the scene. "I suppose it would be overreacting to call her cell and find out what is going on," Alan said.

"Yes dear, I'm sure Tracy will tell us when she is ready," Monica assured her husband.

"Maybe Aunt Tracy just realized that this isn't really Brooke's kind of place," Emily suggested.

"Perhaps. I wonder where they are headed," Alan wondered.


	19. Chapter 18: In Way Too Deep

For the Love of Family

Chapter 18: In Way Too Deep

Later Tracy and Brooke arrived at Kelly's on Wharf Street not far from the Elm Street Pier, County Jail, and the Department of Public Works. As you got closer to the Moriches town line there were also a few appartment buildings that had seen better days and a few warehouses that Tracy knew belonged to Corinthos-Morgan Enterprises. ELQ Incorporated had purchased two of the worst appartment buildings last month and were in the process of renovating them. Section eight housing was admittedly never a venture that Tracy had envisioned her father taking on but he saw it was a continuation of her mother's work and she supposed perhaps it was in a way.

Tracy parked and got out of her prism and hit the car alarm once Brooke was out of the car. She led her granddaughter into Kelly's and they seated themselves at a table in the middle of the diner.

From her seat behind the counter, plugged into her IPOD Lulu looked up, hearing the bell signaling entry, grumbling under her breath. Sunday nights were usually slow and she looked forward to having the opportunity to get paid to chill. Grudgingly she hopped from her perch, grabbed two menus from the counter and headed to the new customers.

Of course when she got halfway there she froze for a moment realizing that her night was even worse than she had imagined. Judge Tracy Quartermaine had been the family court judge involved in her hearing when she had been caught with marijuana at school. Her son Dylan was hot but he had turned down Lulu's multiple advances. He always used some lame excuse that he had a girl friend or something. But Georgie Jones was such a prude, and so annoying Lulu couldn't begin to imagine what about her turned him on. Whatever, Lulu thought. If all of that wasn't bad enough her daughter Shannon was little miss perfect cheerleader it made Lulu sick.

Lulu made her way to the table and slapped down two menus. "What can I get you?" she tried to take the anger from her voice but it just didn't happen.

"I think we may need a minute," Tracy said.

"No, its ok I know what I want," Brooke said without opening the menu. "I'll have the Pizza burger platter with the curly fries."

"Ok then, I'll have Club Sandwich with onion rings," Tracy said.

After Lulu had grumbled away from their table, Tracy turned to Brooke. "I suppose you've been here before?"

"Yeah, Uncle Sonny would take us when I visited in the summer. He doesn't really like it you know fried food and trans fats and all that but his dad is the manager," Brooke explained.

"Actually I think he is in the process of buying the restaurant now," Tracy volunteered filing away that apparently Lois had sent her daughter to spend summers with Sonny Corinthos but wouldn't let her spend summers at their home or with her adoring great grandparents. Tracy knew how her mother had written to Brooke weekly until her death. When she had discovered that secret she had been touched and inspired to attempt the same. But Tracy couldn't say she had been as successful. Still she had written a letter each birthday, and Christmas, and at random other times, often when she was hearing a particularly nasty custody battle in her courtroom.

"Wow! That would be cool, Michael and I could really get free stuff then," Brooke smiled.

"So did you visit your Uncle Sonny often?" Tracy asked curiously, afraid of the answer.

"Every summer since I was like five, he would send one of his drivers down to get me and then I'd stay for a few weeks and mom would come get me usually. It's been more fun now that Michael and Morgan are around," Brooke admitted.

Tracy took a deep breath, it wasn't Brooke's fault that her mother had behaved like an immature child, and Brooke didn't deserve her anger.

"I'm sure it is with kids closer to your age. Your cousins Katelyn and Riley are pretty close in age as well, I think it would be good if you had the opportunity now to get to know them better," Tracy said.

"Maybe," Brooke said wistfully. She was nervous because nothing was making sense. She had been expecting lectures, threats, groundings not going out to dinner at the restaurant of her choice.

Lulu flounced towards their table with two overloaded plates and set them down a little carelessly as a few fries escaped from Brooke's plate onto the table. Brooke rolled her eyes a little and then realized the girl looked familiar. Then it struck her, of course, Lulu Spencer. Her dad had once owned a club, and apparently her mother had been his entertainment director while she had been married to her father. The Spencers and her Uncle Sonny were also good friends and she had seen Lulu through the years. She wasn't sure if she had ever met Lulu's mother Laura, but she had heard the adults talking about how she was in some catatonic state in some psychiatric hospital just outside of Port Charles called Rose Lawn.

As Lulu stalked away from their table, Brooke turned to her grandmother, "Ok can we just get this over with?" Brooke asked.

"What do you mean Brooke?" Tracy asked genuinely surprised.

"My mom told me that I was going to be grounded for life once dad got done with me. Instead I'm going out to dinner at Kelly's and you're being nice what's the catch?" Brooke asked.

"You're right sweetheart we should talk. But perhaps you want to eat first," Tracy suggested.

"I'm sorry," Brooke said and then took a bite of her burger.

"Why did you do it?" Tracy asked.

"It sounded like a good idea at the time, dumb I know," Brooke lied. She knew it was dumb but in a way she hadn't had a choice. Once you joined XTAC you were in it for life. Talking or trying to get out was a sure path to death. Brooke knew that well. She had watched her friend Anna Firitiello not be so lucky.

"Brooke, you realize that you could have died, none of your friends have licenses, you were going to try drugs," Tracy said.

"It was really dumb, I made a huge mistake," Brooke stretched the truth. She realized she had made a huge mistake but she was more referring to joining the gang in the first place not the choice to get in the car. Honestly most of her choices went away after she had made that. "I've learned my lesson, I'll never do it again," Brooke moved onto an out and out lie. She knew she would but she didn't see a way out. Telling her grandmother what was really going on would just put her family in danger.

"I'd like to believe that because I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you but I can see you're going down a dangerous road Brooke. Your mother mentioned that you haven't been going to school and that there have been some other problems," Tracy said.

"I'm sorry," Brooke said genuinely. She really was. She nibbled on a few fries nervously.

"Well we can't go back and change the past, but we can try to get onto a better path, and I think that is what you need to do," Tracy said.

"Yes, and I will, I promise," Brooke lied again.

"I don't think it is very likely that the judge will let you go back to live with your mother, you are likely either looking at living with your dad or going to a juvenile facility," Tracy said matter of factly.

Brooke shuddered, neither option was appealing. She barely knew her dad and she was afraid that her mother had been right and he just had no use for either of them. But juvenile facilities were bad, and she knew that sometimes kids had "accidents" and died in them like her friend Zac had. Perhaps living with her dad was the better option, perhaps she could explain things in a way that they would understand, perhaps if she promised not to share any of their secrets they wouldn't kill her or her parents.

"I realize you don't know your dad well, none of that is your fault. Your parents perhaps got too caught up in their own anger and frustration and lost sight of the fact that you needed them both. I'm not excusing either of their behavior but perhaps just like you need to get on a better path they need to as well," Tracy suggested.

"My father doesn't love me," Brooke protested.

"Sweetheart that just is not true. My son may not have handled things well at all, and let me assure you I've already expressed my displeasure with his actions to him on numerous prior occasions but there is no question that he loves you. I realize that may be hard for you to believe now, but please just give him and yourself a second chance," Tracy pleaded.

"If he loved me he would have tried to see me sometime or written or called. I never even got a birthday present," Brooke fumed.

Tracy took a deep breath again, she had often encouraged Ned to reach out to Brooke and told him that she wouldn't understand his rejection. She knew that he had made a few efforts but when Lois shot them down he had given up and she saw that as his error. He had not pursued his legal rights to his daughter and Tracy held him responsible for the consequences of that. It had been a sore spot in their relationship over the past ten years. But Tracy knew that the last part wasn't true. She knew that Ned had always sent gifts, to assuage his guilt perhaps.

"Did you get letters from me and your great grandmother Lila?" Tracy asked hesitatingly.

"No," Brooke shook her head perplexed.

"Well sometimes there are problems with the mail, I suppose," Tracy offered but she didn't really believe that for a minute.

"You wrote to me granny?" Brooke asked.

"Oh not as much as I should have, but a letter for your birthday and Christmas every year. A few others as well. Your great grandmother Lila wrote you every week though," Tracy explained.

"Every week, how could that many letters get lost in the mail?" Brooke asked.

"I'm not sure Brooke, I think maybe the point is that perhaps we've all made choices that we aren't completely proud of, perhaps we all have to give each other a chance to heal," Tracy suggested.

"Do you think my father ever wrote me?" Brooke asked interested.

"Well Ned isn't much of a letter writer, but I do know he sent you gifts, and he set up a trust fund for your college. Gifts don't buy love Brooke, I understand you needed his time too, and you didn't get that, but perhaps you can now."

"So can you keep me out of jail? Mom said that you and dad are both attorneys," Brooke asked earnestly.

"We are, I've actually been a judge for the last fifteen years or so," Tracy said.

"Wow! So you can help me?"

"I can talk to the judge who is handling this," Tracy began.

"Ask for a favor?"

"No, Brooke I can't do that. You shouldn't want me to, what I can do is suggest a plan for how we keep you safe and supervised and allow you to grow up and do your own great things without going into some kind of locked facility. Your parents and I have come up with a plan," Tracy said.

"What if it doesn't work?" Brooke asked.

"Well right now let's pray it does," Tracy said taking another bite of her sandwich. Silently she also prayed that that she wasn't right about the gang scenario but if anything Brooke's reactions and responses to their conversation had made her even more concerned. Of course there was also the matter of dealing with Lois, and they would be having a talk.

They finished up their meal in silence, and then Tracy drove across town to the small home her son owned over on Cypress Street. Brooke hesitated in the car, part of her was anxious to see her dad especially after Tracy's revelations over dinner yet she was still afraid. "Is my mom inside?" she finally asked.

"No, actually your mother is staying at our house," Tracy explained wondering if Lois would still be up when she returned. She knew it wasn't sensible to have her confrontation with Lois so late so she was hoping Lois would be tucked away in the guest suite and she could just go to bed.

"Why?" Brooke asked curiously.

"Well your parents don't exactly get along sweetheart. We thought it would be better if Lois stayed with us."

"So does that mean you and my mother get along?"

"Well," Tracy wavered, "I think your mother has some wonderful qualities, and we have had some similar experiences. I don't agree with all the choices she has made though."

"So basically no."

"I didn't say that, anyway it's after nine and you should get some sleep. Let's get you inside," Tracy finished and got out of the car.

Inside Ned fretted when he saw them coming up the steps. He had spent several hours thinking after he had left his mother and Lois. He had really messed up this time, it was time to finally step up to the plate and parent as his mother had said he supposed.

"How was dinner?" Ned asked nonchalantly as they came through the door.

"We went to Kelly's," Brooke smiled.

"I thought you were going the Grille," Ned raised an eyebrow at his mother.

"Minor change in plans, flexibility is a good thing son. Anyway I should get home, call me in the morning after you've spoken to the caseworker and I'll make the call to judge," Tracy offered letting herself out.

Brooke regarded her father, unable to put any of her thoughts into words she stood silently.

"Well you must be tired, your room is this way," Ned led her up a flight of stairs and opened a door at the top. He turned on a light and Brooke saw that the small suitcase her mother had made her pack was sitting by the bed. "The bathroom is right across the hall."

"Thanks."

"No problem, I'll be downstairs if you need anything," Ned turned uncomfortably and went back downstairs.

Brooke busied herself with getting ready for bed but once she was lying in bed on hello kitty sheets no less she thought about what her grandmother had said. Perhaps her father really did love her. Pondering she drifted off to sleep. What felt like only a few hours later she awoke to a strange man calling her name. She sat up, blinked and realized it was her father.

"Time to get up, school starts at 8:45," Ned began.

"School?"

"Yes that place you're supposed to go Monday through Friday, I know it's not been you're thing lately but surely you must remember."

Brooke rolled her eyes, "not funny," she said.

"No, it isn't, listen you can be as ticked off at me as you want. Honestly kiddo I've given you a reason, but I won't let you sabotage yourself this way. I already talked to you caseworker, she's going to give me temporary guardianship until the hearing so we're going to enroll you in school, and you will be going and staying even if that means we have to attend together,".

Brooke was silent so Ned continued. "It is 8:15 I want you downstairs dressed, and ready to go in twenty minutes. No ripped jeans, no offensive t-shirts, no wifebeaters, no bandanas, no bare midriffs, are we clear?" Ned asked.

Brooke was afraid to answer, "I don't think I have anything to wear,".

"It's school not a fashion show just get dressed,".

"No really I don't think I have anything that meets your criteria,".

"Not my criteria, the criteria at your school," Ned challenged.

"Ok well I still don't have anything," Brooke said.

"Are you serious?".

"Yes , sorry," Brooke squeaked.

"Ok well what about what you wore to dinner last night?"

"Yuck! No! Anyway I spilled ketchup on the top," Brooke said.

"That's ok, I bet Katelyn has another blouse you can borrow. Go ahead get ready with one of your t-shirts and we'll stop at Monica and Alan's house on the way," Ned said carefully going back downstairs before Brooke could protest more.

When he called the Quartermaine house a hare before 8:30 Ashley informed him that Monica and Alan had left a few minutes ago and taken Nicole and Katelyn to school on their way. Emily was apparently in the shower after her morning run but Ashley promised to have her call as soon as she was out.

Fortunately Emily called back in just a few minutes and agreed to bring Brooke one of Kate's shirts. Ned was hanging up the phone when Brooke appeared sullen faced in Katelyn's skirt and a band t-shirt.

"Emily is going to bring you a shirt, I guess we'll have to go shopping so you have suitable clothes for school. Anyway there is cereal and bagels in the kitchen. Why don't you go eat?" Ned suggested. Although Brooke realized it wasn't really a suggestion and shuffled into the kitchen.

In the kitchen Brooke poured a bowl of cocoa krispies wondering if her father had forgotten that she was twelve not two. Of course her mother still ate lucky charms and she was old. She didn't have a good feeling about the whole starting a new school thing.


	20. Chapter 19: More Secrets Revealed

For the Love of Family

Chapter 19: More Secrets Revealed

Later in a peach blouse of Katelyn's Brooke sat silently while her father and guidance counselor planned out her schedule. There wasn't really much flexibility in seventh grade anyway unless you were a brainiac in a bunch of advanced classes as she supposed her cousins probably were. Somehow the morning passed by and by the time Brooke had a schedule and her school ID it was time for lunch.

Brooke joined the growing line at the hot food line and slowly inched forward. "Brooke! Hi!" a cheery voice called and she turned to see her cousin Katelyn.

"Hi," Brooke blushed embarrassed especially since she was wearing all of Katelyn's clothes.

"You'll have to come sit with us, we usually sit over by the west window but just find us ok," Katelyn said cheerily.

"Umm ok," Brooke mumbled picking up a tray.

A few minutes later balancing a tray of spaghetti, salad, milk, and bread Brooke made her way over to Katelyn's table and sat down in the one empty seat across from Katelyn.

"Everyone this is my cousin Brooke Lynn Ashton. Brooke this is Hillary Carter, Kortni Barnes, Chip Blesdoe, Jordan Belden, Mike Davis, Eric Lavery, Serena Baldwin, Marc Amos and you know Adam and Riley obviously,".

Brooke nodded uneasily, she didn't really know anyone but she supposed she had met her other cousins at the family brunch yesterday. It seemed like that had been so long ago though.

"It's nice to meet you Brooke," freshman Hillary Carter began, "how do you like Port Charles so far?".

"It's nice," Brooke said.

"So how are you related to Katelyn?" Marc asked.

"Marc! That is a little rude," Serena admonished.

"Brooke's father is my dad's sister Tracy's son," Katelyn explained after putting down her sandwich.

"Ned?" Marc asked.

"Yes,"

"But I thought his daughter was much younger like she was barely talking a few years ago," Marc rambled ignoring another sharp kick from Serena.

"Hey I met her," Marc said glaring at Serena.

"You're probably thinking of Kristina," Katelyn started to explain but Brooke had already jumped up from the table and was fleeing the cafeteria.

"I should go find her," Katelyn said getting up.

"Grrr why do we even let you hang out with us? Seriously you're going to grow up and be just like that Damian guy," Serena said rolling her eyes.

"It was an honest mistake," Marc protested.

When Katelyn reached the cafeteria exit the cafeteria monitor stopped her, "Do you know who that girl is who just left, she's not allowed to do that without a pass,".

"She's new, and one of the boys said something upsetting. I don't think she knew she wasn't allowed to leave. If you give me two passes I'll go find her," Katelyn suggested.

"Well alright Ms. Quartermaine but only because you are the student council vice president," the monitor said handing her two passes.

Katelyn found Brooke in the bathroom. "Here, you're not supposed to leave without a pass, I know it's a little bit overkill and we passed the open campus resolution but it won't go into effect until next fall," Katelyn handed her a pass.

"Thanks," Brooke sniffled.

"No problem, I'm sorry about before, Marc doesn't always think before speaking," Katelyn tried to explain.

"So my dad has another daughter?" Brooke asked.

"No, not really, he was dating and then married a woman who has a daughter and a lot of people thought her daughter was his child. But he isn't Kristina's biological father."

"How old is Kristina?"

"She just turned seven in January."

"So did my dad and Alexis break up?" Brooke asked curiously.

"Yes, Alexis had to be honest about who Kristina's father really was and your dad wasn't very happy with that," Katelyn admitted.

"Why was that a problem?"

"Well your dad had let everyone think that Kristina really was his biological child so it was messy when the truth did come out. I think it was especially hard because he doesn't exactly get along with her father."

"Who is her father?" Brooke asked the whole thing was weird. But it bothered her that her father had been so involved in someone else's life.

"A man named Michael Corinthos Jr." Katelyn explained.

"Sonny?"

"Yes, do you know him?" Katelyn looked at her cousin with surprise.

"Sure, Uncle Sonny is my godfather."

Katelyn bit her lip and didn't laugh at what Brooke had just said, realizing that Brooke was probably not referring to his organized crime ties but rather his sponsorship of her in the Catholic church.

"So he and my dad don't get along?" Brooke asked uneasily.

"No, I don't think they do, I'm sorry," Katelyn said.

"Why don't they?" Brooke asked.

"I'm not really sure, I just know they have had a few disagreements at things like the Nurses Ball and some other things. Maybe you should ask your dad. We should probably get back to lunch before the period ends," Katelyn suggested.

"I guess, you know Katelyn you're a kind of a cool cousin," Brooke said looking down at the tile floor.

"Thanks! I'm glad you're here and I'm getting a chance to know you. We were both so young when your parents got divorced," Katelyn said hugging her cousin.

Meanwhile at the Olive Branch, a Mediterranean and Greek restaurant on the town square Tracy was sitting down to lunch with her former daughter in law. She had selected the place for three reasons, it was within walking distance of the court house, she was craving feta cheese, and she hoped that perhaps the restaurant name would be symbolic. Truthfully she was furious with Lois and she was fully planning on letting Lois know exactly how disappointed she was but then she was well aware they needed to bury the hatchet or wave an olive branch and come together for Brooke's sake.

They had just placed their orders, and sat for a moment in silence until Tracy took a deep breath, and a sip of her water. "I really enjoyed having dinner with Brooke last night, but I also learned some things that I think we need to discuss."

"What is that?" Lois asked nervously.

"Well apparently Brooke never received any of the letters that her great grandmother or I wrote to her. I realize that my son betrayed your trust when he had an affair with Katherine Bell, you have every reason to never trust him again and you can be furious with him for life but your daughter missed out on having two adoring great grandparents in her life. Your actions didn't hurt Ned, they hurt Brooke. I won't allow you to continue to create a gulf between your daughter and our half of the family. We've talked about this before but I didn't realize how bad things were and I didn't really think it was my place but now I see that Brooke is in trouble and this whole family needs to put their differences aside and support her,".

Lois' face paled. "Well, if I had given her the letters then I would have had to explain who you all were."

"Would that have been so bad? Listen I understand that it hurts when the man you love and trust violates that, its like your heart is torn out and you're sure you'll never love again, you don't want to. My first husband, Ned's father was unfaithful, and he moved on in his life and really didn't have much if any time for Ned. I really tried to develop a relationship for them because I thought it was important but I couldn't make him be an involved father but it wounded Ned deeply and I wish that things could have been different."

"Well perhaps Ned should have thought of that before he had his own affair," Lois retorted.

"Well that would have been ideal, but it happened Lois. You don't have to forgive my son, but if you continue to use his daughter to punish him you will destroy Brooke in the process. I don't think that is what you want, and I assure you that I will not let you do that."

"So Ned just gets off without consequences."

"No, the consequence of Ned's affair was the dissolution of his marriage. You and Ned ended your marriage but you still have a child together and that child needs both of you in her life. Brooke believes that her father doesn't love her which is tragic."

"Perhaps there is a reason for that, perhaps if he had respected her mother then he wouldn't have these problems."

"Perhaps if you could realize that this isn't all about you Lois. I know that Ned has sent Brooke gifts every birthday and Christmas but she's never received any of them. I'd be the first to say that he needs to give her love rather than material possessions but perhaps it would be easier if she had at least some evidence that he did care," Tracy said.

"I gave her the gifts I just never said they were from him, or you, or Edward and Lila, or Alan and Monica. Sonny has always been very generous with her so she thinks he was a little more generous than he actually was, where is the harm in that?" Lois asked.

"Do you really not see that? Listen if you and Ned don't pull things together and quickly you may just lose your child for good. At this point Lois you can either be part of the solution or part of the problem," Tracy was taken aback with Lois' response but she laid it out plainly.

"I'd do anything for Brooke," Lois said as the waiter brought out their meals.

Tracy waited until the waiter was out of earshot and then said, "Well you can start with putting aside your vendetta against her father, you don't have to like him, you don't have to forgive him but you have to stop using your daughter to punish him."

"Yeah and Ned is father of the year," Lois said wryly.

"I have never said that, and I agree that Ned has not handled any of this well over the past ten years and I have been very disappointed in that but I think Ned finally recognizes that he needs to do what he can now. I was hoping you could be equally mature. Brooke is in way too deep for us to just look the other way. I'm serious Lois you will become part of the solution or I will do everything in my power to remove you from the problem."

"Is that a threat?" Lois asked haughtily.

"No, a promise," Tracy said firmly then picking up her fork and beginning to eat.


	21. Chapter 20: Chance Encounters

For the Love of Family

Chapter 20: Chance Encounters

After her tense lunch with her former mother in law was over Lois decided to go visit her old friend Sonny Corinthos. She and Sonny had grown up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood back when he had gone by Michael. They had drifted apart but then when she had married Ned Ashton and they had returned to his hometown of Port Charles she had been surprised to bump into her old friend. During the two years she had been married to Ned and living in Port Charles she and Sonny had restored and strengthened their friendship. Much to Ned's displeasure she had named Sonny as her daughter Brooke-Lynn's godfather and Sonny had always doted on the little girl. After she divorced Ned on the grounds of adultery she had returned back home to Bensonhurst where her mother still lived. Sonny had helped her buy a house and when Ned hadn't been willing to jump through her hoops to be in Brooke-Lynn's life she had let Sonny move into that role. It hadn't hurt that Sonny despised her ex-husband initially because of his Quartermaine connection, but he had also learned some information about Sonny's business from Lois which he had turned over to the police, and ELQ Enterprises had benefited greatly. Things were already tense and there was much mutual dislike but once Ned had the affair with Katherine Sonny took Lois' side and the dislike turned to hatred. Things had only gotten worse a little over three years ago when Sonny had learned that Kristina was truly his daughter and that Ned and Alexis had kept that fact from him for years.

Max Giambetti was stationed outside the door to Sonny's penthouse when Lois arrived. Lois knew him well from years of being involved in Sonny's life, he was often the one who would come and collect her daughter for her summer trips to visit Sonny. "Ms. Cerullo, what a pleasure," Max greeted her warmly.

"Is Sonny available?" Lois asked.

"The boss is always available for you Ms. C, you know that," Max flashed a sly smile and opened the door to the Penthouse for her.

"Thanks Max," Lois smiled back warmly.

"Lois," Sonny hopped up from his seat on his leather couch where he had been drowning in his thoughts and memories. The interruption was very welcome. He crossed the room and embraced his old friend warmly.

"Hello," Lois began feeling uneasy for a reason she couldn't explain.

"Come, sit," Sonny said returning to the couch and gesturing for her to join him.

Lois sat tensely unable to get her words out at first. Sonny turned to her his warm deep brown eyes gently willing her to speak. "I need your help," Lois finally said.

"Of course, anything, you know you can always come to me. I'd do anything for you or Brookie," Sonny took her hand into his own as he spoke.

"Well it's partly for Brooke, I wasn't completely honest with you yesterday."

"Did something happen to Brooke?"

"Well, we weren't really just coming to visit Ned as an early Father's Day present like I told you," Lois found herself unable to continue.

"That man doesn't deserve to even be called her father, not after the way he's treated you, and abandoned her. Is Ned giving you a hard time about the custody again? Oh don't worry Lois, I've actually retained a great family law attorney to help me with the custody battle with Carly, Lauren Saylor. She gets exactly what her clients want, of course she's quite expensive but don't you worry about the cost, I can take care of that," Sonny offered.

"No, it's more complicated than Ned. Brooke got in a little trouble, and well they want to take her away. Tracy Grabler thinks our best option is to have Ned try to get full custody for now, she thinks if we don't do that she'll end up in some kind of a juvenile facility. Oh Sonny I don't know what to do," Lois broke down.

Sonny pulled his friend into his arms and held her while she sobbed. "It will be ok Lois, Brooke is really a good kid we just have to show the judge that," he promised.

"Well she skipped school with some friends and one of the girls stole a car and they drove to New Jersey," Lois volunteered. She left out the drug allegations since she knew Sonny's dislike for drugs.

"Didn't we do the same thing when we were in school," Sonny asked flashing a dimpled smile.

"Well, yes," Lois admitted, "but we didn't get caught, we were older, Donny actually had a license, plus it was Antonio's car so it wasn't really stolen,".

"Your brother wasn't too happy though," Sonny recalled.

"Well no, that Chevy was his pride and joy," Lois smiled remembering the adventure she, Sonny, Connie Falconerri, and Donny Morelli had taken one of the first nice days the spring of their junior year.

"Still, let me set up a meeting for you with Lauren, I think she can help Brooke, and don't trust anything Tracy Grabler tells you," Sonny said.

"Well there is a hearing on Wednesday," Lois said.

"You mean in two days? That is hardly enough time," Sonny protested.

"That was what I thought but when Ned called the caseworker this morning to get the temporary guardianship he somehow managed to have everything moved up and the venue moved."

"Where did he get it moved to?"

"Right here in Chapparal County," Lois sighed in defeat.

"Oh that is ridiculous, is he dumb enough to think he can have mommy dearest hear this?" Sonny fumed.

"No, it's some Judge Julian Ward," Lois said.

"Not much better, he's the grandson of Mary Mae Ward, she and Lila Quartermaine go way back and a lot of the money for her Ward House, a children's shelter was donated by the Quartermaines. Julian's cousin Keesha is married to AJ Quartermaine now. Julian's father Bradley was a federal prosecutor who ended up being silenced by the Mancusi family years ago,".

"Wasn't he murdered by Damian Smith?" Lois asked recalling that this had happened shortly after she and Ned had wed. At the time she had been recording Mary Mae's blues album. She recalled how Mary Mae had planned to donate all of the proceeds to her children's home, the Ward House.

"Yes, but what no one realized was that Smith was paid for that crime by the Mancusi Family. Of course he later paid with his life when the Mancusi's needed to silence him."

"But I thought he died in the fire at his warehouse, a fire that he had set intending to conduct insurance fraud," Lois' memory was a little hazy.

"Well actually both the fires at Ward House and at Damian Smith's warehouse were set by one of Mancusi's men who framed Damian. The Ward House fire didn't cause much damage because Julian was just conveniently in the neighborhood moments after the fire had been set and it was put out before there was much structural damage. Most of the repairs and renovations were funded by the Quartermaine family," Sonny explained.

"I remember the Nurses Ball was held at Ward house that year to celebrate the reopening right?" Lois said.

"Right," Sonny remembered with a pang of sadness thinking about Stone.

"Well Mary Mae really was a good woman so maybe her son will be fair. I don't think that Ned ever really got along with the Wards well. He was more interested in the financial bottom line and actually had opposed some of the money his grandfather donated at his grandmother's insistence," Lois recalled.

"That I never knew, it doesn't surprise me though, still Julian's cousin Keesha is married to AJ Quartermaine do you want me to see if it can be moved somewhere that I have some influence with the judge. That is what Lauren is trying to do for my custody hearing with Carly," Sonny said slyly.

"Where?"

"Albany County is always good, the capitol is there and I have a lot of influence," Sonny suggested.

"But how can you do that if you and Carly both live here?"

"Lauren filed a motion that both Judge Grabler and Judge Ward were prejudiced against me based on allegations of criminal activity but that since I had never actually been convicted of anything that was rather unfair," Sonny said smiling smugly.

"I doubt that the venue can be changed twice, I guess Ned said that it made more sense to do things here since his goal is to obtain custody," Lois stated.

"That's not going to happen Lois, he doesn't get to walk out of her life and then walk back in when its convenient. Parenting doesn't work that way," Sonny said assuredly. Lois blinked she wanted to believe him.

"We'll get through this Lois, you're one of my oldest and dearest friends, and I'm going to help you. Where are you staying?"

"Well I stayed at the Grabler's last night," Lois said sheepishly.

"You did what?" Sonny laughed.

"Well Brooke was staying with Ned and Tracy thought it would look better if we weren't staying together."

"That woman has some nerve," Sonny said still recalling the last time he and Carly had been in her courtroom trying to work out custody during an earlier separation. She had given them a lecture on how their children were humans with feelings not bargaining chips and pawns.

"Well I think on some level she's trying to help Brooke, or she thinks she is," Lois said.

"That woman is beyond help," Sonny said laughing. "Ok so you aren't staying with her Royal Highness anymore," he commanded.

"Well I was going to see if I could get a room at the Port Charles Hotel or the Metro Court. Although honestly Kelly's or the Econo Lodge on Tower Road is more in my price range, this has been a rough year for the studio."

"I have a penthouse empty, the one next to Jason's," Sonny volunteered.

"Isn't that reserved for Brenda when she's in town?" Lois asked referring to the great love of her friend's life.

"Well Brenda finally bought herself a house she hasn't stayed there in over a year. I guess it's finally really over between us," Sonny said sadly.

"But you're still not quite ready to let her go?" Lois read his emotions in his face.

"I don't know, I mean I guess I need to reconcile with Carly if I can for the boys' sakes. Anyway it doesn't matter if I'm over Brenda because she really is over me; I guess it's the end of the era. So move into the penthouse, you can stay as long as you need. I'll have Milo take you to pick up anything you need, I'll call Lauren and have her meet us here around five does that give you enough time?" Sonny asked.

"You're being very generous," Lois said.

Sonny flashed a dimpled smile. "I'm being a friend."

Outside the business district Liz walked in Embury Park near Port Charles General Hospital. She had been allowed to leave her shift early which had initially been a welcome surprise until she realized she really didn't want to go home. Across the park officers Rob Matthews and Cooper Barrett were getting a highly nutritious late lunch from the hotdog vendor. As they carried their dogs and cokes to a nearby bench they noticed Elizabeth Spencer.

"Hey, isn't that the woman from that domestic dispute the other night?" Rob asked curiously.

"Yeah, her husband used to be a cop before he got addicted to anything he could get his hands on," Cooper Barrett filled in his fellow officer.

"Really?" Rob was shocked to think that the man they had found the other night had ever been on their side of the law.

"Yeah actually I guess he was a decent guy, Cruz Rodriguez was his partner before Cruz made detective. He got shot during a drug bust, and I guess it went downhill from there," Cooper explaining speaking proudly about the man he thought might be about to become his uncle.

"She looks so troubled," Rob said looking over at Liz who had sat down on a nearby bench and was resting her head in her hands oblivious he was sure to their presence.

"Well her husband is an addict and a violent one at that, she should have left him years ago. They have a little boy too, cute kid, he's friends with Nicole Quartermaine."

Rob looked at Cooper with confusion and Cooper chuckled realizing Rob was hardly a native of Port Charles. Cooper wasn't a native either, he had come to attend police academy and college in Port Charles after serving a tour of duty in Iraq. But Cooper had one distinct advantage to knowing the ins and outs of Port Charles. He was Brenda Barrett's favorite nephew. Well actually he was her only nephew but he didn't feel the need to remind her of that often.

"Sorry man, I keep forgetting you're not a native. Nicole Quartermaine is the Drs. Alan and Monica Quartermaine's youngest daughter. She's five, my aunt Brenda nannied for her older siblings when she was in college and her older sister Emily and Brenda are still close to this day. Brenda coerced me into helping with her fifth birthday party at the beginning of March. Cameron, that is their little boy, was there," Cooper explained.

Rob finished his hotdog, wiped his hands, and crumpled up the hotdog trays. "I'm going to go talk to her," he said getting up to throw out his trash.

"Be careful man, I don't think Spencer would be too happy to see you talking to his lady, I'll be in the car," Cooper said getting up and striding through the park.

"Elizabeth?" Rob asked gently standing in front of her.

Slowly Elizabeth picked up her head to a familiar voice, yet one she was unable to place with a face. She looked up into Officer Matthews' eyes with embarrassment. She knew he had not been pleased that she hadn't been willing to press charges against her husband. "Good afternoon," she said forcing some cheer into her voice.

"How have you been?" Rob asked with concern.

"Fine, it's such a beautiful day, I got out of work early and I thought I'd enjoy the sunshine a little before going home," Liz stretched the truth.

"Yeah it's nearly May, and everything seems to be blooming. It usually doesn't get this green in Maine until mid June or so," Rob said.

"You're from Maine?" Elizabeth asked to be polite.

"Yes, near Bangor," Rob said, realizing once the words were out that it probably meant nothing to her.

"Oh, well what brings you to Port Charles?" Liz asked.

"I went to the academy in Bangor, but Port Charles was looking for officers who already had their certification and the pay was a lot better so I decided to give it a try."

"Well that's nice, but you don't have any family in the area, that must be lonely?" Liz presumed.

"Not particularly, I've made some close friends, and I'll go back and see my parents and my little sister usually about once every few months. Do you have family in the area?"

"My grandmother lives here and has most of her life. She's the director of nursing at Port Charles General Hospital and my brother is in forensic medicine. You probably know him, Steven Webber."

"Oh Dr. Weber, not well but yeah I've met him. He more works with the DA than with us directly at PCPD. What about your parents?"

"My dad is a physician working overseas at the moment. I also have a sister who is finishing up medical school in Philadelphia," Liz explained.

"It must be hard having your family so separated," Rob guessed.

"Not really, I'm not particularly close to my parents, I pretty much raised myself in boarding school anyway," Liz said and then shuddered why was she telling this guy her life story.

"Well at least you have your grandmother," Rob tried to lighten the mood.

"Oh yeah, Grams is great," Liz said forcing another smile. She truly was grateful for everything her grandmother had done for her over the years but she hadn't smiled a genuine smile in the past year.

"Well it was nice seeing you Elizabeth, but I guess I should get back to work, take care of yourself."

"Thank you Officer Matthews."

"Oh please call me Rob."

"Ok have a nice afternoon Rob." Elizabeth said.

As he walked through the park to where Cooper had parked the cruiser Rob reflected on their conversation. He was somewhat reassured that at least she had some family. He wondered if they knew what she was going through, they couldn't possibly he realized knowing that he would have never let anyone treat his little sister Aimee that way.


	22. Chapter 21: Facing the Consequences

For the Love of Family

Chapter 21: Facing the Consequences

It was only a little after seven on Wednesday morning when Ned, Lois, Brooke, Tracy, and Lauren Saylor were having a meeting in Lauren's office in the Executive Park Office Complex which was owned by ELQ Enterprises. Normally if they had to be in court promptly at eight Lauren would not have had a last minute meeting before. However, her office had been being painted so they couldn't meet there and Lois had refused to meet at either the Grabler's, the Quartermaine's or her ex-husbands home. Likewise Ned had refused to set foot inside Sunset Towers and Lauren had opted to go home to a bubble bath rather than bring the drama into her own home.

How she had ended up as Brooke-Lynn Ashton's attorney had been somewhat fortuitous in that she had just recently agreed to represent Michael Corinthos Jr. in his custody battle with his former wife Carly Spencer-Corinthos so he had immediately thought of her. She was certain that Brooke's father Ned had protested her selection just on principle but his mother had advised him that she would have been her choice as well. The tension between Ned Ashton and Lois Cerullo was beyond palpable and Lauren had already heard Ms. Cerullo's version of the dissolution of their marriage. She had known of Ned Ashton since moving to Port Charles about eighteen months ago. Although they were both attorneys he was pro-counsel for ELQ Enterprises and she did family law so their paths hardly crossed. Yet, when she had met with Ned to discuss Brooke's situation he had seemed different than she had expected. Rather than arrogant and aloof he had seemed genuinely concerned even scared for his daughter.

"I'm not going to go to jail am I?" Brooke asked anxiously interrupting her thoughts. Lauren regarded the girl carefully. She kept forgetting how young she still was, only twelve, a seventh grader. Perhaps six months older than her own Maddie she realized with a pang. Quickly Lauren pushed thoughts of Maddie aside and focused on Brooke's situation.

"You aren't going to go to jail, you may have to go to youth detention facility but ideally we'll get the judge to allow you to live with your father," Lauren explained.

"What if he doesn't?" Brooke asked uneasily.

"We'll deal with that if it happens," Lauren promised, "but given the situation and your age I think it's likely we can negotiate you staying with your father. Of course if something else happens we may not be so lucky so you will need to keep that in mind when you are making future choices," Lauren said.

"We should head over to court, I know Justice Ward is stickler punctuality," Tracy said.

"Yes, it's almost seven-thirty parking near the town square will start getting tight soon," Lauren agreed.

"But aren't we going to that court in the Chapparal County Office Complex?" Lois asked.

"No, all family, civil, and criminal Chapparal County cases are heard in the courthouse on the square, along with all Port Charles town matters in separate areas of the building of course. The county courthouse mostly does probate issues, some misdemeanor traffic violations that are Chapparal County Sheriff jurisdiction," Lauren explained.

"That is why county residents should feel somewhat duped by the tax levy that built the new county court house that was largely not needed," Ned said. Lauren suspected ELQ Enterprises had not been thrilled with the financial impact but in this case she would agree that Mr. Ashton had a point.

As they were leaving Lauren's office to head to the courthouse Edward Quartermaine arrived. Lauren watched as Tracy pulled him aside and heard her whisper, "Remember we decided that having a large group in court was not a good idea father." In reality family court proceedings and most juvenile justice proceedings were usually closed courtrooms but relevant family members were usually permitted. However, Lauren suspected Tracy was afraid of an outburst from her father.

"I just brought Brooke some breakfast, Monica made bran muffins and they are actually quite good if I say so myself," Edward said gesturing to a paper bag.

"Ok," Tracy agreed.

Lauren watched as the old man handed the muffins to girl and then pulled her into an awkward hug. Brooke didn't protest or scream but she didn't look comfortable in her great grandfather's arms. "You're a good girl Brooke, and everything is going to be ok," Lauren heard him whisper. He hugged more tightly and then released her. Looking a little shell shocked Brooke still clutching the muffins bag turned towards her dad.

"Come on sweetheart, I'll let you eat in my car we should get going though," Ned said draping an arm around her shoulders and leading her out the door.

"He's letting her eat in his car? Now that's a first," Edward quipped after his grandson had left. He turned to Lauren, "If there is one thing that is important to me it's integrity, Quartermaines tell the truth. Your job is to make sure I didn't just lie to that poor scared little girl."

Lauren hesitated unsure how to respond, a part of her wanted to snap back that Brooke was hardly an angel, and Lauren supposed she wasn't. But then no child was, and in going through all of the documents it really seemed like Brooke's biggest mistake was picking horrible friends. She had allowed a boy to store alcohol and drugs in her locker because he was a friend. She had ditched school with friends who stole a car she was really just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Edward did have a point and that was the version she was going to spin to Justice Julian Ward. Normally she hated juvenile justice cases because in her clientele she was usually asked to get wealthy connected kids special favors and allow their parents to live in denial until they really did something horrible. But somehow she had a better feeling about Brooke-Lynn Ashton. For one she was Tracy Quartermaine-Grabler's granddaughter and Tracy had always taken the hard, and firm line on juvenile justice issues and had not suggested that she expected her granddaughter to be treated any differently. Plus from her conversation with Ned Ashton it seemed like he realized there was a problem and while he didn't think that Brooke would benefit from a locked juvenile facility he did think she needed help and would see to it that she got that help.

"I'll do my best Mr. Quartermaine," Lauren finally said. Apparently Mr. Quartermaine accepted that because he turned and left her office probably to head over to the main ELQ Enterprises building on the same complex.

"Well we better get going," Lauren said to Tracy and Lois who were still standing in her office.

"Would you like to carpool?" Tracy offered.

"That sounds good, parking does get tight," Lauren agreed.

"Sonny is waiting in the car outside," Lois said flatly walking out the door before either Lauren or Tracy could comment.

"I was hoping Lois wouldn't bring him to court," Tracy admitted later in the car.

"Well, I suppose he is Brooke's godfather," Lauren began but she agreed with Tracy's assessment.

"Yes, and I do appreciate the love he has shown her but," Tracy's voice trailed off.

"But Judge Ward isn't exactly a fan of Sonny Corinthos nor does he consider him a positive influence," Lauren suggested.

"Exactly, and that is off the record, do not subpoena me to testify to that in your change of venue hearing," Tracy quipped.

"Actually I'm trying to help Mr. Corinthos see that his alleged of course, illegal activities are actually relevant to the custody issue and that the judge isn't just picking on him. Of course since he has carefully never been convicted of anything it's hard for that to register and would be easy for me to claim bias without reason," Lauren explained.

"Actually in the Corinthos' case it will be really hard for any judge in the area to not have a lot of information that perhaps is inadmissible already in our heads, it's not like we just turn off that. Your change of venue is probably quite reasonable and justified," Tracy admitted.

"We're actually looking at a mediator, reaching a mutually agreeable settlement and then filing with court approval," Lauren admitted.

"Good luck with that," Tracy said.

"Yeah, our last meeting ended with Mrs. Corinthos breaking half of the barware and Mr. Corinthos breaking the other half. I think we're meeting on neutral territory at my office next time and I'm hiding anything breakable," Lauren said smiling.

"Like I said, good luck with that," Tracy said.

"Yeah well I think Michael and Morgan deserve much better than a long drawn out and messy custody battle," Lauren said.

"Any child does, I have to admit when I heard that you would be representing Sonny in the custody proceedings I was almost optimistic it might be something other than a three ring circus like their last go round was,".

"Yes I heard about that, Alexis Davis represented Mrs. Corinthos which was an odd choice since she so has very little experience in family law and she and Mr. Corinthos also have a child together," Lauren said.

"Yes, unfortunately another confused child," Tracy said.

Lauren then remembered that Tracy's son had claimed Alexis' daughter as his own for awhile, ultimately the whole thing had come out after Carly had been awarded sole custody of the boys and then eventually even reconciled with their father. Kristina Ashton had been diagnosed with aplastic anemia and was in desperate need of a bone marrow donor. "I'm sorry I was forgetting that your son thought he was Kristina's father for awhile," Lauren said uneasily.

"Actually I don't think Ned ever thought he was Kristina's biological father, and I want to believe that he acted out of love for Alexis, and later Kristina not a desire to take something from Sonny. The reality is no parent knows their child completely and I'm just not sure," Tracy admitted.

"Did you know that Kristina wasn't Ned's child?" Lauren asked curiously.

"No, they were married by the time she was born and I just presumed. When Alexis told us she was sick I made Shannon and Dylan be tested hoping they might be a match. It wasn't until later that I learned the truth," Tracy said.

"That must have been hard," Lauren said.

"It made me question Ned's motivations I suppose, especially when I saw how he reacted, but what I've tried to keep sight of is that Kristina is just a little girl who had nothing to do with the crazy choices that purported adults made for her life. Kristina and I formed a bond when I considered her my granddaughter and I don't plan on breaking that anytime soon," Tracy admitted pulling into a spot on Federal Avenue near the town square.

"Is Alexis ok with your relationship with Kristina?" Lauren asked.

"Yes, she is, I know much of Alexis' personal life has been played out quite publicly in the last few years but she couldn't love her little girls more. She recognizes that shutting us out of Kristina's life would just hurt Kristina. She would actually allow Ned to continue to be involved as well but he basically cut off all ties when it became public that Sonny was her father," Tracy said undoing her seatbelt and starting to open the door.

Tracy and Lauren walked across the town square to the courthouse. Ned and Brooke were standing solemnly and silently inside the lobby on the first floor when they entered the building. "Lois didn't come with you?" Ned asked asked with concern.  
"No she had a friend waiting for her, but I'm sure she'll be along shortly," Lauren said as Lois came through the door with Sonny. She watched as Sonny hugged Brooke and Ned's eyes raised.

"Lois, I thought we had agreed that we didn't need to bring an audience to this," Ned said tersely.

"You brought your mother," Lois protested.

"My mother is Brooke's grandmother and an officer of the court," Ned fired back.

"Sonny is Brooke's godfather and is more involved in her life than you or your mother," Lois challenged.

"Please don't remind Judge Ward of that," Ned said rolling his eyes.

Lauren watched Brooke's reaction carefully and saw her bottom lip quiver as her son's always had when he had been trying hard not to cry. "I have to go to the bathroom," Brooke blurted and tore across the lobby into the restroom.

Ned took a deep breath regretting his words. Lois made no motion to follow their daughter. "I'll go get her, we should be heading into the courtroom soon," Tracy said.

In the restroom Tracy heard sobbing as she entered. "Brooke?" she called.

"Just a minute," Brooke called and Tracy heard a toilet flush and then her granddaughter emerged with a few telltale red splotches on her face.

"I'm sorry that your father and mother are arguing. It isn't an excuse but I think they are both very worried about you," Tracy said as Brooke washed her hands at the sink.

"I'm sorry," Brooke said reaching for a paper towel.

"Why?"

"Well if I hadn't messed up in the first place then we wouldn't all be wasting our morning doing this," Brooke said.

"We all make bad choices Brooke, present company certainly included and everyone you're going to go back out and join. What I want to see is you forgive yourself for the past and make better choices," Tracy said removing a lipstick from her purse and touching up her lips.

"I know you don't want to ask for special favors but if I end up having to go away would you reconsider? I promise if I can just stay with dad I'll be good," Brooke pleaded.

Tracy considered her granddaughters words uncertain if they represented reflection and remorse or just fear. Either way it was a start and she had referred to Ned as "dad".

"I don't think it will come to that, but I'll tell you what I'll do anything in my power to allow you to get a second chance with your dad. Ok?" Tracy asked.

"I'm really sorry," Brooke said.

"I know," Tracy said pulling her granddaughter into her embrace. Silently she prayed that she was wrong about her gang concerns. "But now we should go join every one so we aren't late for court," Tracy said terminating the embrace but wrapping a protective arm around Brooke's shoulders.

"Ok," Brooke nodded shyly and allowed her grandmother to lead her from the restroom. They rejoined the rest of the family and took ornate marble columned elevators to the third floor.

Coming out of the elevators Ned fell in step with his daughter. "Listen I'm sorry about what I said to Sonny. I know he's important to you and although I don't like him I can respect that he loves you. Right now having more people loving you isn't a bad thing. It will be ok," Ned promised wrapping his arm around her as they went into the courtroom.

As Brooke sat down at the table with Lauren and her father she thought of everything that had happened in the past year. She had never realized that Carrie's friends were in the XTAC gang until it was really too late. Even when she, Carrie, and Anna had been initiated she had just thought it was a kind of cool club with older kids. It wasn't until she saw Jimmy shoot the kid in the alley that she had realized she was in over her head. But then it was too late, being in a gang for life wasn't just something that was a tv myth. It was reality, Anna had tried to leave and been killed. Of course when Zach was sent to a juvenile facility he had a mysterious accident there which Brooke knew hadn't really been an accident after all. She also knew that things wouldn't be as simple as her father and grandmother wanted to believe. Although the judge might give her a second chance and let her live with her dad eventually the gang would find her and make her go back. It would actually be better if she could stay one step ahead of them and that was Brooke's intention.

Brooke was lost in her thoughts as Lauren informed the judge that no true criminal charges had been filed and that his recommendation on the truancy matter and supervision matter would be what dictated custody. Lauren had told her to make eye contact and look remorseful which wasn't hard and wasn't an act. Brooke truly wished there was any way out of what she had gotten herself into she just couldn't find it.


	23. Chapter 22: The Legendary Dr Harmon

For the Love of Family

Chapter 22: The Man, The Legend, Dr. Matt Harmon

A few hours later at Port Charles General Hospital, Emily Quartermaine waited patiently for her instructor to sign her Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) card. She had just passed her NRP recertification, including the "mega-code" where one had to resuscitate an infant mannequin as if they were truly a dead or dying baby. Mannequins had become more advanced and now they actually delivered chest rise only if there was a good mask seal or the endotracheal tube was correctly placed in the trachea not the esophagus. 

"Here you go Emily, I must say I was very happy when I heard that you had matched here," Dr. Matt Harmon, one of the neonatologists said handing her the card.

"Thanks! I'm excited but a little scared but my dad says that is normal," Emily said.

"Your father is a wise man, and I'm sure you'll very well during your residency. Are you and Patrick going to still be on your honeymoon during orientation?" Matt asked.

"Actually Patrick and I decided that a wedding, a major trip, me moving into the house that we've bought, and both of us starting at a new hospital all in June was a little much. We actually aren't really going away for a traditional honeymoon so I'll be around for orientation. However, since I had already taken NRP as a student it made more sense to take the recertification than go through the whole course again. Plus it will be when Kate and Nicole are out of school so if I have an extra day to hang out with Nicole she will find that incredibly cool," Emily explained.

"Oh yes Nicole Quartermaine with the natural blond curls which my daughter Allison envies," Matt said laughing.

"Perhaps it's a situation where you always want what you don't have because Nicole loves it if my mom will straighten her hair with the curling iron. She also covets Kathleen's braids. I'll do two pigtails but I would never have the patience to do the head full of tiny braids. Does Ellen do Kathleen's?" Emily asked referring to the Harmon's other twin.

"Actually, my mother in law does them and she uses Kathleen's own hair not extensions so Ellen makes her take them out every week and really wash her hair," Matt said.

"Wow! She braids them every week, somehow I had thought that you could wash around the braids," Emily said.

"I think you can if they are extensions. Anyway can I treat you to lunch if I promise to talk about something other than hair products?" Matt joked.

"Sure, my dad is in the OR pretty much all day and my mom had a busy cath lab schedule I believe. I'm going to try to make it to Kristina's Art Show at St. Catherine's later but that isn't until three," Emily said.

"I'll even let you pick, Fratelli's or the Olive Branch," Matt suggested leading her out of the conference room where the recertification had been held.

"I haven't been to the Olive Branch in awhile and it's closer in case you need to get back or something," Emily said.

"Actually I'm not on service this month so I'm only picking up some weekend and night coverage shifts so I'm free all day until I need to pick up the twins," Matt said.

"Oh right, I think the PICU is going to that staffing arrangement as well. They wanted my mom to take a month," Emily said.

"Yes, but until they hire another full time interventional cardiologist it will be hard for her to be able to commit to a month without needing to respond to a crisis requiring she go to the cath lab immediately," Matt said.

"Yes, she's done Peds Inpatient service some, but that is easier because they only do two weeks at a time and it's a little more of a stable service so if she has to disappear to the cath lab it's more adaptable I guess for the residents. Although she did say that the last time she abandoned her peds ward team for the cath lab it was actually for a NICU baby not an adult with a myocardial infarction," Emily quipped.

"Yes, but she's really the only one who does septostomies, and if you're born with a hypoplastic left heart and not much of an ASD then you're kind of stuck unless someone will do a septostomy," Matt said.

"True, we had a case during one of my peds rotations where the baby had a hypoplastic left heart and mom didn't want them resuscitated at all," Emily said.

"To an extent she probably had a point. The first year of life is three separate staged cardiac surgeries and some babies do have lots of complications and problems. Still if they get through to their Fontan a lot of them do very well. Of course our oldest survivors are probably in their thirties so we don't know for sure what the more long term future holds," Matt said.

"Right, it got more complicated though because mom was using cocaine during pregnancy and CPS was planning on taking custody of the baby after birth. In the end the ethics committee got involved and the baby did get resuscitated and is apparently doing pretty well in foster care," Emily said.

"Speaking of ethics committees, why don't we swing by and see if Ellen's ethics committee meeting is over and she can join us for lunch," Matt suggested.

"Good idea. I haven't seen Ellen in awhile and it will be nice to catch up before she becomes well I guess my boss," Emily said smiling.

"Somehow I don't really see you having too many or really any disciplinary skirmishes so I think you'll be fine Em. Actually after my internship class I think things have calmed down significantly," Matt said as they made their way over to the administration wing.

Walking and wheeling into the medical education office Matt greeted his wife's secretary. "Hello Angie is Ellen free?"

"She just got back from her ethics meeting and she has a conference call at two so if you were stealing her for lunch steal quickly. You know she always insists on dialing into her conference calls at least thirty minutes early," Angie joked.

"Angie I heard that," Ellen called from her inner office.

"It's a well known fact Dr. Burgess-Harmon, your neurotic punctuality is hardly a new or secret thing. Enjoy your lunch I'll have that revised contract on your desk for review when you come back," Angie said.

The petite African American physician who was the current Director of Medical Education and Program Director for the PCGH transitional internship emerged from her office. "I invited the newest Dr. Quartermaine to join us she was in my NRP Recertification this morning," Matt said.

"Technically I'm not quite a doctor yet, I still have three more weeks until graduation," Emily said.

"Someone is stickler for details, in my opinion once that final rotation is over and passed waiting to take that oath is a mere formality," Matt said.

"Probably true, still it will take some adjusting for me to hear Dr. Quartermaine and not look around for one of my parents. Fortunately pediatricians are low key so maybe I can just be Emily," Emily explained smiling.

Later at a table in the Olive Branch during the noon rush Matt, Ellen, and Emily shared breadsticks and chatted. "We really are looking forward to our new residents starting, as a group this year is probably our deepest in terms of quality," Ellen said proudly.

"Which you said last I think about ten years ago when our class was starting. But don't worry dear, I think Emily's group will definitely lean closer to fame than infamy," Matt said recalling the trials and tribulations of his intern class.

"I remember when you were interns and Alli and I were volunteering for Pediatrics, that seems so long ago," Emily admitted.

"Well it was ten years ago, I've had time to spend two years figuring out surgery was not my true calling, transfer into the Pediatrics program, complete a neonatology program and finally get to become an attending," Matt summarized.

"Good point. It's kind of funny I ran into Chris Ramsey the other day and we were talking about how it was so ironic that both of you were so bent on becoming surgeons and you both chose other fields in the end," Emily said.

"What I find more interesting Emily is the fact that they are truly friends now. I would have never even considered that possible years ago," Ellen said.

"Actually that doesn't surprise me so much. I think Chris has grown a lot, some probably the hard way. He's lost a lot like his mother and sister, and Julie, Karen, and Eve. He's definitely developed a different perspective on what is important. Plus Matt has always been very willing to see the good in people and to forgive," Emily said.

"None of us are perfect. We all make poor choices so because we are forgiven we must forgive," Matt agreed. "Also I definitely agree with you about how Chris has grown. I was very impressed with the compassion he showed a young mother who was pregnant with HIV recently," Matt finished.

Ellen looked at her husband and smiled. His words sounded like those of a survivor and a survivor was definitely what Matt had become. Born Eric Mancusi, the son of a hardened organized crime lord, he had avoided the illegal activities of the family. Although admirable that approach had left him vulnerable and he was paralyzed as the result of gun fired by his own brother. He had assumed a new identity in Matthew Harmon and worked through his anger and self pity to get to medical school. Ellen had met him when he was an intern and they had avoided a relationship until the end of his internship when he began his surgery residency as it would have been improper. Although not technically improper there were many who opposed their relationship because of their racial and age differences. Matt had dealt with that much better than she had and she was not proud that she had briefly found love in the arms of another man. When she had become pregnant in the midst of their relationship strife and uncertain who the father of her children truly was she had done the cowardly thing and fled for a new job in California. She had never told Matt about the pregnancy but when the twins were born and she saw the truth of their paternity so obvious in their little faces she found the courage to return home and face the past and her fears.

In time she and Matt had reconciled and ultimately married. His training demands during fellowship had been stressful but they had both utilized trust and patience to get through it. She was immensely proud of the man and father her husband was. Although never one to believe in fairy tales she was starting to feel that there wasn't anything that she and Matt couldn't get through together.


	24. Chapter 23: Uneasy Truths

_If you're familiar with the Scott Baldwin who returned to Port Charles when his five year old daughter was kidnapped and then seemingly disappeared to turn back into a monster skip the monster retransformation in your mind and go with this. If you can't remember that far back keep reading as Scott's character fleshes out. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 23: Uneasy Truths

Across the town square in the District Attorney's Office in the Courthouse, District Attorney Scott Baldwin and Assistant District Attorney Alexis Davis were having their usual afternoon war session. However, Alexis' mind had drifted past what ever Scott was talking about. Instead she was thinking about her daughter Kristina and the art show that her school had planned for the afternoon. She had made sure that Sonny knew about the event and how important it was to Kristina that he be there. Of course in Sonny's line of work that would be no guarantee that he would actually be able to show up, and Alexis knew that Kristina wouldn't handle that well. 

Scott sensed he had less than Alexis' full attention and said, "Well I'm thinking maybe we should drop the charges, it will take some work to make the case anyway."

"Whatever you think is best Scott," Alexis said rotely.

"You think I should just let Darren Malloy go free. I mean the man killed two children during the hostage crisis, two innocent children," Scott's voice rose as he emphasized the last part.

Alexis shuddered thinking of her own two children and wondering if somehow in spite of their Cassidine, Lansing, and Corinthos heritage she would ever believe that they were truly safe. "Ok so perhaps I wasn't listening as closely as I should have been Scott. Obviously I don't want to let Darren Malloy go free," Alexis admitted sheepishly.

"Perhaps?" Scott quipped. "What did Jax do this time?" Scott asked.

"Who said anything about Jax doing anything?" Alexis asked.

"Well you completely have that telltale Jax look all over your face," Scott countered.

"If I may ask, what is a 'Jax look'?" Alexis asked.

Scott attempted his best to paste the dreamiest expression on his face. It required thinking back to a time before he had realized that his wife Dominique Stanton would die.

"Well if you must know, and apparently you must. I wasn't even thinking about Jax. I was thinking about Kristina, she has this art show at school today and she'll be devastated if everyone isn't there. Well in Sonny's case sometimes being there is beyond his control," Alexis said.

"You make it sound as if his possible absence was for a noble purpose, like a doctor who had to save a life, or even a cop. If Sonny misses her art show for another shootout in the warehouse district forgive me if I don't feel too sorry for him," Scott said.

"My point was only that things come up. If Sonny isn't there Kristina will be hurt," Alexis said.

"Well perhaps the sooner that Kristina accepts the reality of her criminal father's life the better," Scott suggested.

"Don't refer to him that way," Alexis fumed.

"Why not? It's true," Scott protested.

"Actually it isn't, he's never been convicted of anything. Last time I checked Scott you weren't exactly a perfect person either," Alexis challenged. She realized that her words were unfair although Scott had made some stupid and perhaps even illegal choices in the past, in a time long before she even knew he existed. When he had returned to Port Charles a little over thirteen years ago with his two year old daughter he had left the past in the past.

Taking over as DA in the shroud that their office faced because of the multiple illegal and frankly brutal malicious offenses her former husband Ric Lansing had committed during his tenure had not been easy she was sure. Scott had not wavered from the straight and narrow, still he didn't have to be so self righteous about her daughter's father. Sonny wasn't a bad man, and she could see how much he loved their daughter.

"He's never been convicted because he had a good attorney. We're glad you finally came back from the dark side," Scott quipped.

"You can detest Michael Corinthos Jr all you want but I won't allow you to refer to him as Kristina's criminal father, that isn't fair to Kristina," Alexis said firmly.

"If you want my opinion the most unfair thing to Kristina is that she not only has that monster's blood running through her veins, but that she also knows that he is her father. You should have stayed with Ashton when you had the chance," Scott said.

"First I don't want your opinion, secondly I regret lying to Kristina and the world about who her father was. I made choices that were unfair to a lot of people," Alexis admitted.

"You were trying to protect her, that part I could understand," Scott said.

"But I didn't protect her. Ned's rejection hurt her deeply, and I'm the one who set that all in motion," Alexis admitted sadly.

"Do you feel badly about hurting Kristina or about hurting Corinthos?" Scott asked.

"Both," Alexis said flatly.

"This is the wrong time for you to be seeing Corinthos as the injured, misunderstood party again. You know now that we formed the alliance with the FBI we're going to clean up this town. Corinthos is going to be one of the casualties so if you can't separate your personal and professional lives this is the time to get out. I don't want to see you go Alexis but I can't have doubts about if you're playing for the other team," Scott said.

"When have I ever compromised an investigation or evidence for Sonny Corinthos?" Alexis asked angrily.

"To my knowledge, never. I just want us to be clear," Scott said.

"Oh we're clear Scott," Alexis said not even bothering to hide the anger in her voice.

"Good. Well I've got that evidence hearing on the Todesto case in thirty minutes. Why don't you go ahead and take off a little early so you can get to Kristina's art show," Scott suggested.

"I thought Kyle was handling that hearing," Alexis said.

"Oh he was until he came down with the flu," Scott explained.

"You don't sound convinced," Alexis said. Fellow ADA Kyle Durant was the son of the late US attorney John Durant.

"Well, considering he originally requested vacation this week which was denied I was a little suspicious. But I went to see him yesterday afternoon and he looked awful. I seriously almost insisted he let me take him to the hospital," Scott admitted transferring some papers from his desk into his briefcase and closing the briefcase.

"Well maybe someone should check on him today," Alexis suggested.

"Yes I called him, he's got a doctor's appointment today," Scott said.

"Well that's good," Alexis said.

"Yes, anyway you should go and I better head to the courtroom for my hearing. Dara Jensen is opposing counsel, I really wish we could lure her away from the dark side too," Scott quipped picking his briefcase up off the desk.


	25. Chapter 24: Desperate Measures

_Meet Kyle Durant, the only of Helen & John Durant and Carly Corinthos' other half brother. _

_Julian & Faith Ward are Bradley Ward's children but not related to the Quartermaines as Edward never had the affair with Mary Mae. However Lila and Mary Mae were old friends and the families were close before AJ Quartermaine married Julian & Faith's cousin Keesha. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 24: Desperate Measures

Across town Kyle Durant lay in bed ill. He reached desperately for the now damp blankets as another wave of chills wracked his aching muscles. Shivering he grimaced at the irony of it all. Monday evening he had been running a fever and gone to bed early with a raging headache. When he awoke Tuesday panting with a 104 degree fever he summoned all his effort to call in sick to work as an attorney in the District Attorney's office. He spent the day in bed alternating between drenching sweats and chills. Around five there was a knock at the door and it literally took him five minutes to make his way to the door. By the time he finally flung the door open; and clung to it sweating and panting from the exertion, his boss DA Scott Baldwin had already given up and started back down the steps.

"Man you look rough," Baldwin had said as he turned back around. Had he not been using all effort to just maintain a semi upright position Kyle would have smirked at Baldwin's rather obvious disbelief about him not playing hooky from work. Baldwin had actually offered him a ride to the hospital but he had assured him he would be fine. After Baldwin had finally left he had made his way back inside and then dropped to the floor to rest before attempting to make it back to bed.

Lying in bed he realized how futile the situation was. His head was still throbbing and his mind felt fuzzy. But even through a fog he realized that he didn't have any good options. Sure he could go to the ED at PCGH but that would likely involve revealing his secret in order to survive. He had done that before, and soon everyone knew in spite of alleged patient confidentiality. Ultimately he had lost his career and the woman he loved. He had not returned to Port Charles to be closer to his sister Carly Spencer or Corinthos or whatever last name she was using this month. Anyone who would believe that obviously didn't know Carly very well he thought with a chuckle stifled by pain. His return to Port Charles had been more like an exile. As the fever spiked again Kyle allowed the darkness to envelope him, accepting his fate.

What Kyle hadn't counted on was that his girlfriend Faith Ward was returning two days early from her business trip and had planned to surprise him with dinner. As Kyle lay unconscious Faith let herself into his apartment with a bag of groceries for her dinner preparations. She went into the kitchen to put some of the perishables in the refrigerator but as she was washing her hands at the kitchen sink something felt wrong. She had an eerie sensation that she wasn't alone. 

Moments later armed with a kitchen knife she went through the rest of the apartment looking for an intruder. When she cracked the door to Kyle's room she was overcome with the stench of stale sweat and then she saw him. She dropped the knife and crossed the room to the bed where he lay in a mess of tangled and damp sheets and blankets. "Kyle..Baby are you alright?" she asked dropping down to her knees by the bed. When he didn't respond she numbly reached for the phone by his bed and called 911.


	26. Chapter 25: My Daddy Loves My Mommy!

_A hint of what could be perhaps? Any Sexis fans ? Critical reviews would be, well awesome :)_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 25: I Told You! My Daddy Loves My Mommy!

Alexis pulled into the parking lot at St. Catherine's Academy and parked. Kristina had attended St. Catherine's for only a little over a year as she had initially attended her regular zoned elementary school which was on the Port Charles High School Campus. But Sonny had worried that there wasn't sufficient protection at public school and Alexis had caved about halfway through kindergarten and allowed Kristina to transfer. Alexis supposed she should be grateful to Sonny for paying tuition for Kristina to attend a private catholic school but if she had her choice she would move to the Lilac Park neighborhood and have Kristina attend Lilac Park Elementary, which was where Nicole Quartermaine attended. 

When Alexis got out of her car she was surprised to see Emily Quartermaine getting out of the car in the next parking space. She did remember that Kristina had mentioned her art show to Emily when they had run into her at the coffee shop, but Alexis hadn't planned on Emily actually coming. "Hi Alexis, how is your day going?" Emily asked falling instep with her as they walked across the parking lot to the school.

"I've had better days," Alexis said flatly.

"I'm sorry. I truly don't mean to pry but if there's anything you want to talk about," Emily said.

"No, but thanks for the offer. Kristina will be thrilled that you came," Alexis said adeptly changing the conversation.

"Well I had NRP this morning but we got out in plenty of time for me to have lunch with Matt and Ellen and still make it here. I was going to bring Nicole but she's at piano lessons this afternoon and then she and grandfather are leaving to go watch Katelyn run at Penn Relays. Mom is on call tonight and dad is tomorrow so they couldn't make it, and I'm taking my ACLS recertification tomorrow or I would have gone with them," Emily explained.

"Well that's nice," Alexis said blandly. She really had no idea what Emily was really talking about.

"Theoretically grandfather is going so someone can chauffeur Kate and Nicole to the pool to get in their morning swim workout. But in reality Penn Relays is totally his scene," Emily said smiling.

"I've never been," Alexis said as they walked up the walk in front of the school.

"I ran there in high school and then college. The atmosphere is amazing; the crowd is electric, so grandfather and his bullhorn level cheering fit right in. I think he wanted to bring Kristina this year actually," Emily said.

"Well there was no way Sonny was letting Edward take his daughter out of state. Maybe she can go to one of Kate's other meets," Alexis suggested.

"Yes I kind of figured that. Just remember we all love Kristina even if she isn't Ned's biological child," Emily said following Alexis into the school.

"I know, and I appreciate the way that you all have been considerate of Kristina's feelings. I only wish Ned had been so considerate. I know he isn't really Kristina's father but since I made the mistake of keeping that secret for almost four years I understand why Kristina formed a bond. I suppose it's really all my fault. But I can't make Ned see that he's not just punishing me he's punishing Kristina and she's just a scared little girl," Alexis said tears forming her eyes.

Emily led the woman who at one point she had thought might become her aunt over to some chairs in the lobby and guided her to a chair. "We all make kind of naïve choices sometimes Alexis. The problem is we can't go back and have a redo. I think Ned is still grieving his loss, I'm not excusing his behavior but I'm praying that he'll find the strength to let Kristina back in some time," Emily said.

"Kristina didn't die though, he doesn't have to grieve anything," Alexis said.

"His relationship with Kristina changed and well Ned isn't the best at handling change from my experience," Emily said.

"But that doesn't make it any easier for Kristina. Three years later she still does grieve what she lost. Perhaps it would be easier for her to take if Ned had died, but she still sees him around town sometimes almost daily. I'm sorry that came out all wrong," Alexis said.

"No, I kind of understand, I mean not about Ned dying, but how his rejection just rubs more salt in the wound," Emily said.

"Exactly, I just wanted something so much better for Kristina than the dysfunctional family I grew up in. But I ruined it I fathered a child with a wonderful man who just happened to also be a criminal. I was afraid so I lied and denounced her true father. Then as if ruining one child wasn't enough I married a truly evil man and had a child with him," Alexis said sobbing.

"Alexis, you didn't know what Ric was really like when you married him. A lot of people were surprised by who he really was. You have two beautiful little girls and they have a lot of people in their lives who love them and a mom who would go to the ends of the Earth for either of them. They're going to come out on the other side," Emily said.

"I'm sorry Emily sometimes I just get so worried sometimes," Alexis said dabbing at her eyes with some Kleenex from her purse.

"I think that's an occupational hazard of being a mom, or so I've been told," Emily said smiling.

"Perhaps you're right, we better get to the gym for Kristina's art show. I'm not sure if Sonny was going to be able to make it and if Kristina is there without anyone then she won't handle that well," Alexis said as they stood.

"Well I mentioned it to grandfather, I think he was going to try to stop by in between meetings," Emily said.

When they entered the gym they saw Kristina standing with Sonny. Alexis ignored the fact that Max and Milo were attempting to blend in with the crowd. Kristina laughed at something Sonny had said and he scooped her up into his arms. As they turned around Kristina caught sight of her mother and Emily. Sonny put her down and she ran to them. Emily and Alexis both took an arm and they all rejoined Sonny. "Guess what Mommy? Granpapa came!" Granpapa was what Kristina had called Edward when she was younger and couldn't get out great grandfather. The name had stuck though and Kristina's Christmas gifts had still carried tags proclaiming they were from Granpapa four months earlier.

"Unfortunately Eddie couldn't stay long. He had a meeting to get to. He sends his regards," Sonny informed her.

"Well that's nice that your grandfather was able to see your art. Did he and your father manage to play nicely?" Alexis asked.

"You don't think Eddie and I can just have a nice conversation? Do you think I am a ruffian?" Sonny asked giving Alexis a dimpled smile.

"Well the last time that you and Edward were together Kristina put you both in time out," Alexis pointed out.

"Well Eddie got longer than I did," Sonny said indignantly.

Kristina giggled.

"Well the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends only one minute per year of age," Emily said with a laugh. Her laugh faded a little as she saw Nikolas Cassidine entering the gym. Kristina noticed him too and squealed with pleasure. Emily reflected momentarily on the irony of the whole situation. Nikolas Cassidine had been one of the first boys she had ever crushed on. But in time she had realized that losing herself to date Nikolas just wasn't worth it. The ironic part was that almost as soon as Emily had moved on, Nikolas had decided that he loved her. The fact that his brother was married to one of Emily's good friends Elizabeth Webber-Spencer didn't help the situation.

"You came," Kristina squealed as Nikolas joined them.

"Of course I did I told you I would," Nikolas began. "You're looking beautiful as always Emily," he said.

Emily blushed a little at the praise, "Thank you Nikolas," she said then she turned to Kristina and bent down, "So would you like to give me the guided tour and show me your art?" she asked.

"Yes!" Kristina said happily taking Emily's hand and starting across the gym.

After they left Nikolas continued to glance longingly. "She's so great with kids; she's going to be such a great pediatrician. I've always said that," he began.

Alexis decided not to point out to her nephew that he had been the one trying to talk Emily out of going off to medical school at Columbia and felt it would have been better for her to have joined Elizabeth in the nursing program at PCU.

"You don't think she will be?" Nikolas challenged his aunt and Sonny.

"I'm sure Emily will be very talented as a pediatrician she's smart and she cares that's a big part of it I would think," Sonny agreed.

"Well I'm sure she's going to be great, as I was telling Alan PCGH is fortunate to have her. I'm just glad she's come back home and we have another chance to make our relationship work," Nikolas said.

"Well I agree that Emily will become an asset to PCGH but Nikolas darling she's engaged to marry Patrick," Alexis said.

"Engagements don't always lead to weddings Alexis. Dr. Drake doesn't really love her the way I could," Nikolas said.

Sonny refrained from comment on that one. Anyone who had seen Dr. Patrick Drake watch as Emily sang to the children at the PCGH Christmas Party could see that he was seeing his future children in her eyes. Sonny knew the look because he had given it to two women. One who he had never been able to make things work with but still loved and one who had given him a daughter. Of course perhaps the fact that he had married neither of those women supported Nikolas' perspective Sonny realized with irony.

They were saved from further comment on Nikolas' pipe dreams when his cell phone began to ring. "I better take this, it might be a hospital emergency," Nikolas said stepping away from them to take the call.

Alexis inhaled deeply and then exhaled. "I thought he was finally starting to accept Emily's impending marriage I guess I was wrong."

"Well sometimes it's hard to give up your soulmate," Sonny said speaking from experience. In his case the problem was that he had been afraid to see the truth until it was too late.

"I don't really see that Emily is Nikolas' soul mate. I think it's more of a crutch for Nikolas to avoid other relationships," Alexis said.

"Perhaps," Sonny said noncommittally.

"Anyway enough about Nikolas, seriously please tell me that Edward is actually unharmed at his meeting," she joked.

"Trust me Lex he's fine. He came, he admired Kristina's art. He mentioned that Alan and Monica have opened the pool and invited Kristina and Molly over to swim. I pointed out that Kristina and Molly were not born with fins like Nicole and Katelyn seem to have been. He pointed out that Alan, Monica, and Emily are all doctors and Katelyn is now a certified lifeguard. Then he realized he had a meeting at three so he said goodbye to Kristina and left. Actually probably about ten minutes before you and Emily walked in," Sonny said smiling.

"Wait so you and Edward had a civil conversation. What is the world coming to?" Alexis joked.

"You're telling me, Ashton actually apologized to me this morning," Sonny said.

"Ned apologized? For what?" Alexis asked uneasily.

"Well it was after court, he said he could accept that I loved Brooke and he'd try to not interfere in our relationship as long as I didn't put her in danger," Sonny said.

"Oh right that was today, how did that go?" Alexis asked.

"Well Lauren was great. Lois is miffed though I guess because Ned got custody, Lois has to go to parenting classes, and Brooke has to do drug testing and counseling. But that shouldn't be a problem, Brooke's a good kid and she's clean," Sonny said.

"How are you so sure about that?" Alexis asked.

"You can do very effective drug testing with just a few strands of hair. The test came back negative," Sonny said smugly.

"So your saying you drug tested a minor without her knowledge or her parents permission?" Alexis demanded.

"Ok lighten up, Lois knew we were doing it she thought it was a good idea. We knew that Brooke was going to need to probably give a sample after court and you never go into a situation without knowing what you're up against. I taught you that," Sonny said.

"Well there is no way those results would ever be admissible," Alexis challenged.

"They don't need to be, we just needed to remove the element of surprise," Sonny said.

"Well I don't agree with your methods Mr. Corinthos," Alexis quipped.

"Of course counselor," Sonny said smiling again. His smile faded a little as Nikolas rejoined them. He had been enjoying his banter with Alexis as it took him back to an earlier time before he had made several crucial mistakes.

"I guess it wasn't a hospital emergency," Alexis observed.

"No, it was Liz. She seems to forget that I am not Lucky's keeper," Nikolas said a little miffed.

Alexis had no interest in staying on the topic of Lucky especially since he currently had more criminal charges pending. "Are you still going to that risk management seminar this weekend?" she asked an attempt at topic change.

"Yes, I fly out Friday morning, I may invite Emily," Nikolas said.

Alexis didn't get the chance to remind him that Emily was probably too busy planning her wedding to Patrick to go on vacation with him because Kristina and Emily appeared at their side.

Sonny regarded Emily curious if she had caught Nikolas' plan as they approached. "I had a lot of fun Kristina but I have a few errands to take care of before dinner so I'm going to go," Emily said embracing the little girl.

"Thank you for coming, ok who wants the next tour?" Kristina asked gleefully.

"Why don't you let Nikolas go next?" Alexis suggested. Nikolas scowled at his aunt but didn't want to disappoint his cousin so he did go with Kristina who skipped off happily dragging him along.

"Nice save there counselor," Sonny said after Nikolas was out of earshot.

"Well I figured Emily deserved a smooth exit," Alexis quipped.

"Speaking of exits, what are your plans after this is over?" Sonny asked.

Alexis wavered was he going to invite her to dinner? She supposed it made sense and Kristina would love it if the three of them had dinner together but Alexis knew that if she did that she was unwrapping her heart again and that scared her.

"I have a lot of work to do tonight," Alexis said.

"I was just asking because Kristina has been missing Mike so I was thinking maybe we could all have dinner tonight, the five of us," Sonny suggested.

"Five?"

"You, me, Mike, Kristina and Molly. Anyway you have to eat at some point right?" Sonny said smiling and flashing his should be illegal dimples.

"Well I suppose you're right I do need to eat, and Kristina has been clamoring for lasagna since the last time she was at your house. I can barely boil water so you know I can't make that and the stuff from a box doesn't fool her," Alexis said.

"I could make some and you could put it in the freezer and just pull it out to bake, you could do that," Sonny suggested.

"Thank you but tonight Kristina can have both her lasagna and her daddy which is what I think she wanted anyway," Alexis said.

"You know how important she is to me," Sonny said.

"Yes, I do, and I'm sorry that you missed out on the first almost four years of her life. I've been thinking, she's really old enough now that she could spend the night at your house one night a week. I wanted to ask you about it though before I told Kristina," Alexis said.

"I would love that Lex thanks!" Sonny said picking Alexis up in the excitement.

Across the gym Nikolas and Kristina took in the scene. "See Nikolas I told you that my daddy loved my mommy!" Kristina squealed excitedly.


	27. Chapter 26: A Familiar Fear

For the Love of Family

Chapter 26: A Familiar Fear

Faith Ward sat in the Emergency Department waiting room trying not to imagine the worst. It was hard though, Kyle had never even opened his eyes when the paramedics carted him away. Overcome she buried her head in her hands but the fear that took over prevented the tears from coming.

The problem was that Faith wasn't just worried about her boyfriend, as she sat in the waiting room at PCGH she remembered back to an earlier time when she had sat in the same place and felt the same fear. That fear had ended with Dr. Alan Quartermaine coming out to tell her family that they had done all that they could but that her father US Attorney Bradley Ward was gone. That had been thirteen years ago but the memories were as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. 

Fifteen minutes later still lost in her thoughts, Faith felt a hand on her shoulder. She was afraid to look up, afraid of getting bad news. "I'm sorry Faith. I came as soon as I got your message. I had turned my phone off for a parent teacher conference," a familiar voice said.

Faith looked up into her cousin Keesha's eyes and then allowed her to pull her into her embrace resting her head on Keesha's shoulder. "I just can't get past how much this feels like before," Faith whispered.

Keesha hugged her cousin more tightly knowing exactly what she was referring to. Faith had only been eleven when her father was shot walking up Elm Street from Kelly's Diner to the Ward House. The police had concluded it was a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time but Keesha had often wondered if it had anything to do with her uncle being a federal prosecutor. "Don't think like that Faith, you have to believe and pray that Kyle will pull through this," she said.

"But it's been over two hours and no one has told me anything. I remember with dad we waited hours until Dr. Quartermaine came out and told us he was gone," Faith said.

"Try to think positively," Keesha said. "Is there anyone else you want me to call. Julian perhaps?" Keesha asked.

"Julian left right after his court recess to go to that conference in Washington. I thought about calling Carly, but I sort of think that Kyle would be furious if I did," Faith said.

"Well you might be right on that one. I was always under the impression that they tolerated each other for John's sake while he was alive," Keesha admitted.

"Something like that. Carly said some horrible things to Kyle after the funeral service last May though," Faith said recalling the scene.

John Durant's funeral had been held graveside in Memorial Cemetery on Federal Avenue Extension. Kyle had been raised Catholic but had actually converted to Episcopalian during college. Carly who had perhaps converted to Catholicism so she and Sonny could be married and remarried in the church but never incorporated the concepts of Christianity into her daily life had decided that they had to have a priest do the service. Kyle had let that go telling Faith that his father had been Catholic and that he would say his goodbyes to John in his own way and he didn't need a funeral service to do that.

After the funeral Carly had arranged for memorial dinner at one of the restaurants in the Metro Court which she was a partial owner of with Jasper Jacks. After that Carly pulled them aside to tell Kyle what a disgrace he had been to John because he had rejected her.

"Like what?" Keesha asked interrupting Faith's thoughts.

"Mostly just about how him not accepting her had hurt John and how much she hated him. I suppose given that she was a little drunk and had just lost her father it wasn't that bad, especially by Carly standards but it really seemed to hurt Kyle. As far as I know they haven't really spoken since," Faith explained.

"That's sad though," Keesha said. She wasn't only thinking about Carly and Kyle but rather AJ Quartermaine and Jason Morgan. Once they had been cousins. Jason's grandfather was Lila's brother and since AJ and Jason were close in age the boys had always been close growing up and that friendship had intensified when they both attended Port Charles University and were members of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. After the accident Jason had become a different person, Keesha supposed he really was a different person since he had no recollection of the honest and kind man he had once been. At first Keesha had thought that if she could just love him enough that they could get through it. Of course that didn't work because her love just frustrated Jason more as he couldn't remember or be the person she needed. Their breakup had been both messy because of all the pain and anger but anticlimactic as well because if she was honest they had never really been back together.

"Yeah it is. I'm certainly not a Carly fan but I wanted them to work things out, because family wise I think she's all Kyle has," Faith said.

"Maybe just give them time, it hasn't even been quite a year since John's death. They probably both need some time and space to process everything," Keesha suggested.

"Yeah maybe," Faith said but Keesha noted that she didn't really sound convinced.

Keesha wrapped an arm around her cousin and then pulled out her cell phone from her purse. "I should have called AJ before I left school, he'll be worrying if I'm ok," she said opening her phone.

"Do you want to use mine? I have a bunch of minutes?" Faith offered.

"No, I'm good. Somehow we ended up in this Quartermaine family plan where you get bonus minutes back based on usage but they are distributed across the whole plan. So basically the Grabler's pay a fortune for their daughters inability to not be attached to her cell phone at practically every waking moment and everyone else gets more free minutes than they could ever use," Keesha laughed placing her call.

After telling AJ what was going on she turned her attention back to Faith. "Try to think positive," she said.

"How is AJ?" Faith asked.

"He's fine," Keesha said uneasily.

"Does that mean you didn't tell him?" Faith asked.

"I was going to, I kind of thought if we went to visit Grandma Phillips and were away from Port Charles it would be easier. Not really I'm so scared, and I'm afraid of how he will react. He was so angry when Lucky hurt me and I lost the baby. I really worried he was going to do something we'd all regret. Fortunately Alan got through to him and helped him see that," Keesha admitted.

"But he loves you Kee, if anyone can get through this it's you and AJ," Faith said.

"I want to believe that. It was so hard when I lost the baby, I'm not sure I can go through that again," Keesha said.

"You aren't going to. You also have to be positive and pray that things work out," Faith assured her older cousin.

"You're right, I love AJ. AJ loves me and somehow no matter what happens we will get through it together," Keesha said hoping that saying the words would make them easier to believe.

"Aren't you glad you trusted Brenda now?" Faith asked with a smile.

"You mean about not being AJ's rebound girl?" Keesha asked laughing remembering when she and AJ had first started dating. They had always been friends, even before she had started dating Jason and as they struggled with Jason's rejection they had become closer. They had gone out a few times for dinner or movies but Keesha had viewed their relationship as purely platonic. One night they had opted to have their movie night in the family room at AJ's parents' house and caught up in the emotion of the movie they had kissed. Uncomfortable Keesha had fled the room only to bump into Brenda Barrett, Alan and Monica's nanny.

Of course the nanny concept was a little bit of a misnomer since it had been obvious to Keesha when she and Jason had been together that the whole family adored Brenda and sort of viewed her as a cousin, like Jason, Keesha supposed. Brenda was also a student at Port Charles University and Keesha considered her a friend. Of course Brenda and AJ had also been recently dating, although Brenda had explained that they had decided they did a lot better as friends than lovers. Still she hadn't been sure she really wanted to talk to Brenda about AJ's kiss.

But Brenda had a knack for making awkward situations less awkward. So they went into the Quartermaine kitchen on the pretense of making hot cocoa. Brenda had helped her to see both that it was ok for her to move on and find love with someone else, and also that she wasn't AJ's rebound relationship but rather the woman he refused to let get away twice.

"Well that and other things, but yes," Faith agreed.

"Yes, she's a good friend," Keesha said. But as she said the words she realized what a horrible friend she had been to Brenda recently. While at brunch at the Quartermaines on Sunday she had learned about Brenda's hospitalization yet she still hadn't found the time to come visit.

"Yes, I used to be so jealous of her and Emily Quartermaine because they were beautiful, I suppose I just needed some time to grow up and recognize their inner beauty, and more importantly my own," Faith admitted.

"GranMae would be so proud of those words," Keesha said referring to their grandmother Mary Mae Ward.

"She certainly would, I suspect Lila Quartermaine was a knock out in her own way back in the day," Faith said.

"I'm sure she was, it really ended an era when Lila died," Keesha said wistfully as Dr. Chris Ramsey joined them.

"Are you the family of Kyle Durant?"

"I'm his girlfriend Faith and this is my cousin Keesha Quartermaine," Faith said uneasily.

"I'm Dr. Chris Ramsey, I'm on call this afternoon for Internal Medicine unassigned admissions and I'm going to be admitting your boyfriend," Chris began.

"Is he going to be alright?" Faith blurted.

"Apparently he has Influenza A, we usually get a few late season cases and I suppose this is one of them."

"The flu, but he was unresponsive," Faith protested.

"Well his sodium was dangerously low as well probably from the fever and dehydration. We'll be correcting that slowly because fixing it too quickly can lead to permanent brain injury so we'll admit him to one of our stepdown units for tonight so they can monitor him closely," Chris explained.

"May I see him?"

"They are working on moving him to his room now, he still isn't awake but as soon as the nurses have him situated I'll tell them to call down here and send you up to see him. Do you have any other questions?"

"Are you sure this isn't something more serious than just the flu?" Faith asked warily.

"Right now we're going to focus on the things that could hurt him right now. We'll continue to look for other problems but I'm optimistic that this is simple dehydration leading to low sodium. Either way we need to fix the sodium so that is what we'll work on now," Chris said.

After Chris had gone back into the Emergency Department to see another admission Faith turned to Keesha, "You can go, I'll be ok now. I'm just going to wait until he's in his room so I can see him."

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying," Keesha offered.

"No, it's ok really. You should go be with AJ," Faith suggested.

Keesha gave her cousin another hug. "Call me if you need anything, anything," she said.

"I will," Faith promised.


	28. Chapter 27: Struggling Forward

_Sometimes you have to reconcile the past to move forward..._

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 27: Struggling Forward

Walking through the hospital to the main lobby Keesha thought again about Brenda. She would be a really lousy friend if she was actually at PCGH and didn't even stop in briefly she decided. She inquired at the information desk and then walked in through the lobby and down a corridor to the North Elevators and took them to the sixth floor where one of the telemetry units was. 

Opening the door to Brenda's room the first thing she noticed was that Brenda already had a visitor and because she could never cut a break anymore it just happened to be her ex-boyfriend Jason Morgan. She bit her lip at the irony especially given what she had been thinking about earlier. Seeing her Jason stood and started to cross the room to the door.

"Jason, please don't leave on my account I can come back another time," Keesha said.

"I was leaving anyway, Carly needs me to take care of something," Jason said heading opening the door but not without catching the way Brenda rolled her eyes at his comment. "I'll be back after dinner and if you need anything just call my cell," Jason said stepping out into his reprieve in the hallway. He and Brenda had been debating whether he was too involved in fixing Carly's problems with Michael and Morgan. The thing that was bothering him though as he punched the down button on the elevator was not what Brenda had said but the fact that he was wondering if she had been right.

Back in Brenda's room Keesha warily sat in the chair Jason had vacated, "Was he really leaving before?" she asked.

"Yes, Carly called and Michael is upset with her so Jason needs to fix things," Brenda explained.

"Oh, that makes sense," Keesha said sarcastically.

"Well I suppose from Carly's perspective it does. From mine well not so much but anyway how are you?" Brenda asked.

Keesha hesitated. "Very busy with school and stuff. I wanted to come sooner I'm sorry I'm such a crappy friend," Keesha finally said.

"You aren't a crappy friend. I don't expect the rest of the world to put their lives on hold to hold my hand. But now that you're here fill me in on the latest gossip," Brenda joked.

Keesha forced a laugh. "Well we could start with what's going on with you and Jason?" she suggested.

"We're friends, I think he and Carly have this unhealthy codependence but perhaps I'm just projecting my concerns about my own relationship with Jason onto them," Brenda said smiling.

"Did Jason say that?" Keesha asked alarmed.

"Umm no, Jason always hated psychology remember," Brenda said.

"You're right. So you and Jason aren't together?" Keesha asked.

Brenda laughed. "No, Jason and I would probably kill each other if we were together which would not be a good thing," Brenda said.

"Understood, what a monster Sonny has created," Keesha said.

"He's not a monster, poor choice of words on my part. Jason would never physically hurt me and he cares about me a lot but I know I frustrate him to near death at times and he does as well. But as friends that isn't so bad because we just give each other some space," Brenda said.

"Ok so he hasn't descended to Sonny's level, as an abusive jerk and criminal, he's just a criminal," Keesha said.

"Listen I don't agree with some of the choices that Sonny and Jason have made and how they live their lives but they're not the evil that you see them as Keesha. I still consider them both friends," Brenda said.

"Friends who could get you killed Brenda," Keesha protested.

"Well yeah maybe but people not in Sonny or Jason's profession make some dangerous and sometimes fatal choices also. They have both been there in their own ways when I've needed friends," Brenda said.

"So because they are good friends it's ok if they kill people," Keesha said.

"I'm not excusing any of their choices and I realize that having a romantic relationship with Sonny was incredibly hypocritical but I guess I've made some poor choices too. Sometimes I look back and hate who I was, maybe who I am but that doesn't really help. I have to accept the choices I've made and move forward, totally easier to say than do," Brenda said.

"I just hate the way that it's like we're all supposed to look the other way because they are nice, and Sonny loves his kids, and Sonny gives money to things. Sometimes you have to think about their victims too," Keesha said.

"I don't think we have to look the other way. I don't know I wish that Sonny and Jason really just imported coffee, or owned night clubs, but I guess I've learned that nothing is black and white. Don't be mad but are you mad at Sonny and Jason or are you mad at Lucky?" Brenda asked.

Keesha didn't answer her but she started to cry and Brenda sat up in bed and hugged her. "I'm not trying to be mean Keesha. What happened to you was horrible and you and AJ deserved so much better and I wish that things had been different," Brenda said.

"I know, and I know we need to let go and forgive and all of that but it's just so hard," Keesha said.

"I'm sure it is, and I don't think anyone else should put a timeframe on your grief. You and AJ love each other and you're going to get through this and move forward together. Counseling is never a bad idea either," Brenda said.

"Yeah I don't know sometimes I just think we're going through the motions we're just struggling not moving forward," Keesha said starting in with new tears.

"Well sometimes moving forward is a struggle, and sometimes the struggle is where you grow. I like to think of it as struggling forward, that kind of what I'm trying to do now," Brenda cracked a smile.

Keesha cracked half a smile through her tears. "Which doesn't mean that a good cry is a bad thing either," Brenda said hugging her again as Emily joined them.

"Keesha?" Emily asked concernedly, "Is everything ok? Actually strike my stupid question, you're crying so things are obviously not ok? What can I do to help?"

"I'll be alright Emily, Brenda and I were just talking and I was thinking about losing the baby," Keesha admitted.

"Oh honey," Emily said embracing her sister in law. She wondered if Keesha had told Brenda about the pregnancy. She sort of doubted that since she knew Keesha still hadn't told AJ and she doubted she would intentionally tell anyone before she found the strength to tell AJ. Of course Emily realized that she and both of her parents knew which made things awkward.

As Emily was debating what to say next Cruz walked in increasing the room occupancy by one more. "So this is where the party is?" Cruz joked crossing the room and gently kissing the top of Brenda's head.

"You know it," Brenda returned trying to lighten the mood. She had a feeling there was more going on than she realized with Keesha but she also got the sense and respected that Keesha didn't feel like explaining.

"Well I should really get home, I'm sure AJ has dinner past ready," Keesha attempted to excuse yourself.

"Why don't I drive you? I know you're still upset and you shouldn't be driving," Emily offered.

"Well my car is here," Keesha protested knowing that Emily driving her home would make AJ question if she was keeping something from him. Which she was and she regretted but she wasn't able to tell him about the pregnancy. If she didn't know Emily better she would have thought that she had realized the same thing and was trying to manipulate the situation so Keesha would have to tell AJ something. But she did know Emily and knew she didn't operate that way.

"AJ can give you a ride in the morning. Or I can, I have my ACLS recertification at eight anyway," Emily offered.

"Yeah but my car is in the garage," Keesha protested.

"Where once you've parked more than two hours you pay the same up to twenty four hours. Come on I'll take you home. Brenda I'll stop by when we have our lunch break. Oh and Nicole is videotaping Katelyn's race for us" Emily said.

"Aww, my favorite five year old strikes again. I love her so much," Brenda said smiling.

Keesha succumbed, realizing that it was probably the easiest way to assuage Emily's concern. They both gave Brenda a quick hug and then walked out into the hall where Emily stopped. "Before we go further promise me you aren't bleeding or cramping or anything," Emily said.

"No, I was just thinking about Lucky and everything that happened. I'm upset which probably isn't great for the baby, but it's reality right now Em," Keesha said.

Emily embraced her sister in law as they walked to the elevator. "I so wish that things were different Keesha. I really think that if you told AJ at least you could support each other. I'm sure this is scary but I bet keeping this from AJ adds another layer of stress," Emily suggested.

"You're probably right, I know I need to tell him, maybe tonight," Keesha said as they stepped into the elevator.


	29. Chapter 28: Princesses & Dragons

_I think Brenda & Cruz have become my new favorite couple! _

_The Paperbag Princess is a children's book by Robert Munsch it is also the book that Patrick needed to stop at Border's Bookshop to look for in Chapter 14.  
_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 28: Princesses & Dragons

Back in Brenda's room Cruz sat perched on the edge of the bed. "Is Keesha alright?"

"Not really, she's thinking about Lucky and the baby she and AJ lost," Brenda said uneasily knowing the explanation would hurt him.

Cruz shuddered. "That whole situation was beyond messed up on multiple levels," he said.

"Agreed, and Keesha just got caught in the middle of the fallout. Listen I know he was your partner once, Emily's best friend once, but at some point he has to take responsibility for his actions," Brenda said.

"I agree, it's just hard for me to have seen who he was and who he has become," Cruz said.

"I suppose as hard as it is to believe perhaps he hasn't quite hit rock bottom yet," Brenda suggested.

"I hope that's not quite the case," Cruz said.

"Yeah, but usually when you truly hit that lowest possible point is when you realize that you need help and are desperate enough to accept it, or I suppose unable to accept it which often leads to seeking other ways out," Brenda said.

"You mean like suicide?" Cruz asked warily. He really hoped she wasn't speaking from experience. He offered a silent prayer that this was something she had read in some book for one of her psychology courses not her personal feelings.

"For some people, sometimes people also find a different yet equally unhealthy coping mechanism or a different vice so to speak," Brenda explained.

Cruz took her hand, "I love you," he said.

"I know, and to answer your unasked question I'm not completely speaking from experience," Brenda said.

"What do you mean?" Cruz asked warily.

"Well when things were their worst before I just turned to Sonny. I suppose you might argue that was a different vice, although I think at the time I saw it as being willing to seek help," Brenda said.

"I'm not judging Brenda. Ok I don't like the man, but if he helped you back then I'm glad he was there for you," Cruz said.

"He did, Sonny does well in crisis, it's the day to day stuff that he struggles with," Brenda said.

"What do you mean?"

"He can be incredibly loving, nurturing, and gentle when people are vulnerable. I think he identifies with that scared out of control feeling from his childhood. Plus I think being the protector and the comforter assuages a lot of his feelings from childhood. He was great with Stone when he was dying, better than any of us really, but don't tell Robin that I said that. She was great with him in her own way too," Brenda said a few tears appearing on her lashes as she thought about Stone.

"Anyway Alli died that summer and Emily went off to start medical school, well that BS-MD program she did, in the fall. Jax and I were still in theory trying to make things work but we couldn't because I had so much internal crap that I just couldn't or wouldn't begin to even share with him. On the outside I had everything my adoring boyfriend who truly hated me by that point I think, multiple modeling jobs which were getting harder and harder to make it through. It was harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning, which was probably partly depression because it's hard to starve and not be depressed but anyway. I was doing this cover for Vogue Glamour I got up to do some pose the photographer thought was good and passed out. Admittedly not a new thing but somehow it was different that time. I know I could have called Alan and Monica they would have helped but somehow because it was only four months after Alli's death I just couldn't do that to them. So I called Sonny. He was great he fixed everything. I realize now that ideally he would have supported me while I fixed everything, that's probably what Alan would have done. Perhaps I realized that even then and wasn't quite ready for that although I don't think I did. Anyway I've learned from that, I suppose that's positive," Brenda said.

Cruz took a deep breath and pulled her into his arms. "I love you. You don't owe me an explanation," he said.

"I know. But see I think I love you too, and I want you to understand. I don't want you to fix it like Sonny did. Ok maybe I do want that because it would be so much easier. But it wouldn't be better and it would just create a cycle and I don't want that," Brenda said quietly.

"I'm not going anywhere Brenda, I love you," Cruz said.

"Good, because I don't want you to," Brenda said smiling.

"I'll try not to be a toad like Prince Ronald and maybe we can walk into the sunset together," Cruz said.

"So Patrick got to you too," Brenda said laughing.

"I ran into him and Emily at Border's. He loaned me one of his dozen copies of the Paperbag Princess," Cruz joked.

"Ok but I still have to outsmart the dragon myself ok? Basically Sonny paid off or bribed the dragon and well that was only a short term solution" Brenda said

"So is it ok if I hold your hand and cheer while you do?" Cruz asked.

"Sure, but right now you could just kiss me," Brenda said with a seductive smile.

Cruz did that but as he held her for the first time since she had told him the truth about her anorexia he wasn't obsessing about saying the wrong thing. Perhaps if it was true, I love you was never the wrong thing. He did love her and he could see how much stronger she was than she realized. Perhaps it would really be ok.


	30. Chapter 29: Fidelity?

_A slightly reworked history of the whole Brenda-Jax-Sonny-Carly disaster. Where does Jason fit? _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 29: Fidelity?

At the Cheesecake Factory restaurant in the Metro Court Hotel Carly and Jax sat over their salads but both were lost in their own thoughts. Carly was still reflecting on the events of the past few hours, she wasn't exactly sure what Michael's problem was but he had been horrible since she had picked the boys up at school. She had forgotten about the art show since the boys weren't participating but Kristina was and Michael had wanted to go. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem but she and Jax had seven o'clock reservations and it was after three before they got to school to pick up the boys. Michael needed plaster of paris for some science model so they had to go to the Gallery Mall where Carly hated to go. Plus it was all the way on the outskirts of Port Charles near the Shepperd border. There just wasn't time to attend Kristina's thing. 

Michael had sulked the whole trip. Carly's mind had wandered as their chauffeur Reginald drove. She hated driving out towards Shepperd. Although it was only the next town over it was also where the two only two psychiatric hospitals within the confines of Chapparal County were located. First there was Shady Brook which was the state psychiatric hospital which also had a moderate security unit for the criminally insane on it's campus called Fern Cliff. Carly had spent time in the Fern Cliff unit after she shot her son's kidnapper in open court. Unfortunately she had also been sent to the Shady Brook portion about a year later after a suicide attempt when she walked in on Sonny and Alexis making love. Although she and Sonny hadn't been married at the time seeing him with another woman had still hurt. Plus she had gone back to Jason's afterwards and Robin had been home from medical school for the weekend. Feeling like she had nothing left Carly did the impulsive thing and swallowed a bunch of pills. She had planned out for Jason to find her but as her lack of luck had it, Jason's cousin Emily Quartermaine had found her and called for an ambulance. Then to make things even worse because two days later when she had been medically cleared Dr. Gail Baldwin, the psychiatrist on call at PCGH, refused to admit her to the inpatient unit insisting that because of her past psychiatric history she really would benefit from a more extensive evaluation period. So Carly had spent two months at Shady Brook as well.

Then there was Rose Lawn which perhaps from the road looked like it could be a country estate or the campus of a private school. In actuality it was a residential psychiatric facility. Carly had spent time there as well initially during the end of 2003 when she had become despondent over Sonny's affair with Samantha McCall and the fallout of Kristina Davis being recognized as his child. Sonny had also learned that she had tried to fake her death for a week earlier that year. He had confronted her with the truth and torn into her about what her stunt had done to his children. Carly hadn't like the way he had said his children and had worried that they were heading for another divorce and custody battle she could lose so she had pulled her trump card and checked into Rose Lawn voluntarily. It had worked. Sonny had been so upset that he hadn't tried to divorce her and hadn't strayed for awhile. It was her second Rose Lawn admission that was hardest for Carly to accept. All of her other ones had been her choice perhaps the best of a bad set of options admittedly. But in 2005 she lost control completely and started seeing dead people. She had met Dr. Lanie Winters who attributed her psychiatric break to the stress of her children's kidnapping earlier that year while she had thought that her oldest son Michael had been killed.

Freeing herself from the unpleasant memories Carly had glanced over at Michael still sulking in the back seat as they drove past the Port Charles University campus, which was technically so close to the Shepperd border that parts of the campus were in the town of Shepperd. Reginald had pulled into the parking lot in front of the Gallery Mall and parked.

"Can we get icecream?" Morgan had asked as they were walking into the mall.

"No we're just getting plaster of paris for Michael's project, and then we are going home again. It's nearly four, Jax and I have dinner reservations at seven and I still need to do something with my mane," Carly had joked wrapping an arm around her youngest son.

"You're going out with Jax tonight?" Michael had asked angrily.

"Yes, but Leticia will help you with your project and you can show it to me when we get home," Carly had promised picking up her pace and heading in the direction of the crafts store.

"You haven't had dinner with us in over a week," Michael had protested.

"That's not true," Carly had fired back but she wasn't sure if perhaps it was the case. Between real estate commitments and attempting to reconcile with Jax she had been rather busy. But she knew that when she had more time she would make it up to the boys. After all she had figured she always did.

"It is true," Michael had insisted.

"Ok fine Michael but I'm not fighting about it. I have plans with Jax tonight, you and Morgan will stay home with Leticia this is not something we're going to discuss," Carly had insisted.

"Well if you're going to ignore us then you might as well let us go to dad's for dinner tonight," Michael had said.

"You aren't going to your father's tonight. He had his visitation time this weekend," Carly had insisted.

"Well Alexis lets Kristina visit extra. In fact I think she and dad are having dinner together tonight," Michael had protested.

"How do you know that?" Carly had asked curiously.

"Dad told me," Michael had said smugly.

"When?"

"When we were waiting outside for you. He was coming to go to Kristina's art show and he saw us on the swings," Michael said.

"You know I don't like your dad finding you at school if it's not his day for vistitation," Carly had said as they finally reached the crafts store.

"He didn't come to school to find us, he came to go to Kristina's thing," Michael had screamed and flounced off to find what he needed for his project.

Michael's attitude hadn't improved any by the time they finally returned home a little before five. Michael had run upstairs and slammed the door to his room. Morgan had gone into the kitchen to find cookies and Carly had decided it was time to get to the bottom of the problem so she called Jason and told him he needed to fix things. Then she had drawn a nice hot bath and informed Leticia to allow the boys to disturb her only for a life or death matter.

When she had finally emerged from the tub an hour later and dressed for dinner she could hear Jason, Michael, and Morgan downstairs playing some video game. When she had come downstairs a few minutes later at quarter to seven Morgan had informed her that Jason was taking them to Kelly's for dinner. Jax had arrived shortly after that and Carly had escaped with him.

Ironically Jax's thoughts had started with the scene he had encountered at Carly's house earlier. Carly always assured him that Jason was just a friend and that he was at her house frequently to spend time with Michael and Morgan. He wanted to believe that of course his relationship with Brenda had eroded much of his ability to trust. But that was where things were different with Carly. With Brenda he had always been her second choice and Carly had actually told him she would leave his husband for him if he had wanted.

Jax wasn't proud of the fact that initially when he had told Carly to go for it he had done it more because he wanted to stick it to Sonny Corinthos than because he thought he could love Carly. His mother would say that revenge was an immature modus operandi but then she had never been involved in a love triangle with Brenda Barrett and Sonny Corinthos. Jax had never found out what the attraction to the Cuban crime lord was but for some reason Brenda returned to him frequently and Jax knew she was open with Sonny in ways she had never been with him. Brenda and Jax had started dating when she became a spokesmodel for a cosmetic company he owned in 1997. Her modeling career was just starting to take off then and she was recovering from a broken heart after Sonny Corinthos had left her at the altar on their wedding day. Jax had courted her relentlessly but gently and they had planned to marry about a year later in August of 1998.

Unfortunately for them Sonny Corinthos showed up at their wedding with Jax's first wife Miranda who wasn't actually dead. Although Jax hadn't realized it at the time it was the beginning of the end. Although he and Miranda did eventually get their wedding annulled Brenda wasn't in a hurry to take another trip down the aisle. Eventually Jax did propose again at her college graduation but after a nearly two year engagement, when he was suspicious she was still involved with Sonny, Brenda broke off the engagement and then disappeared.

Well he supposed she didn't really disappear, she spent over a year doing more international catalogue work and as Jax's private investigator had informed him hid out on Sonny's private island. Although Sonny made frequent trips back to Port Charles during that period he spent the bulk of his time on the island with Brenda.

When Brenda and Sonny returned for good early in 2003 Sonny and Carly remarried and Brenda claimed that things with Sonny were finally over. Jax had the best summer of his life with Brenda and had begun to believe that perhaps things would finally go his way. He and Brenda were supposed to marry that November but Carly's honesty had freed him from the insanity. Carly had witnessed a kiss between Sonny and Brenda several days before his intended wedding. Brenda had claimed that it was a platonic kiss and she was really over Sonny. Jax had pretended to believe her but he didn't and the more he thought about it the more he realized that sometimes revenge could be sweet.

He hadn't exactly left Brenda at the altar, oh he had arrived to the ceremony and all but when reciting their vows instead of saying "I do" he had instead said "I don't". It had perhaps been the scandal of the year, and to Jax's surprise Brenda hadn't turned to Corinthos to pick up the pieces. Instead she had turned to her career and taken the supermodel concept to an entirely new level. That hadn't been what Jax had expected. He had wanted her to hurt as much as he had hurt when she had left him for Sonny.

"What are you thinking about babe?" Carly asked seductively interrupting his thoughts.

Jax chose his words carefully. Explaining to Carly he had been thinking about Brenda would not go over well. "Fidelity," he said with a grin.

Carly squirmed slightly at those words hoping that Jax didn't realize that although they had broken up several months ago because she thought he and Alexis were having an affair that she had slept with Sonny during the hostage crisis.

"Fidelity?" Carly asked hiding the uneasiness in her voice.

"Yes, I was thinking about how you may be the only woman who's ever been completely honest with me," Jax said smiling.

Carly smiled back. The conversation was going in a much better direction than she had feared. "I'm glad we're back together Jax, I love you," she said breathily.

"I love you too," Jax said taking her hand as the waiter came to clear away their salad plates. "I'd love for you and the boys to move back in," Jax finished.

Carly smiled again. The timing could not have been more perfect, the house she and the boys were living in was actually not a recent purchase but a house owned by a client who was letting Carly have use of it for six months in hopes that the housing market would improve. Of course she still had a few more months and didn't want to appear too eager to Jax. "I'd like that as well but so many moves have been hard on the boys. Why don't we wait until the school year is over?" Carly suggested.

"Well it will be hard but I can hold out I suppose. After all it's only another six weeks or so right? What is six weeks when we have an entire lifetime?" Jax asked.

Carly caressed his hand holding hers. "My thoughts exactly Jax," she crooned as the waiter brought their entrees and they continued their meal.


	31. Chapter 30: Loving Brenda

_Cruz & Jason talk? What is the world coming to? _

* * *

  
For the Love of Family

Chapter 30: Loving Brenda

A few hours later, back at Port Charles General Hospital, Cruz crept out of Brenda's hospital room. In the corridor he turned to the left and immediately bumped into Jason Morgan. Jason abruptly took a step back, "Excuse me."

"It's my fault I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," Cruz offered.

"Is she asleep?"

"Yes, for about thirty minutes. She just kind of drifted off mid sentence," Cruz said.

"That would be Brenda," Jason agreed cracking half a smile. "Well Michael and Morgan made her cards so I think I'll leave them for her," Jason finished taking a step closer to the door.

"Jason?"

"What?"

"I wanted to thank you for what you've done for Brenda. I guess I should have seen that something was very wrong, but I'm glad you were there for her," Cruz offered.

"You don't have to thank me. I didn't do it for you," Jason said bluntly raising a hand to open the door.

"I know, and I realize we haven't exactly gotten along in the past. But I love Brenda, and I can respect that she values your friendship. I'd like us to try to get along for her sake," Cruz suggested.

"Please don't suggest that we be friends."

"I'm not really suggesting that. Listen I love Brenda and I see us spending the rest of our lives together. I'd never suggest to choose her friends for her so perhaps we could call a truce. We don't have to become best buds but civility might be nice," Cruz suggested.

"Civility I can do, anyway I'm going to take these cards in," Jason said placing his hand on the door again.

"Thank you Jason," Cruz said as he turned and started down the hall to the elevators.

Jason stood just inside the door for a few moments watching her sleep before silently stalking across the floor to lay Michael and Morgan's cards on the table by her bed. As he was about to turn away she began to struggle and cry in her sleep. Instinctively he crouched by the bed and placed one hand firmly on her shoulder. "Brenda, it's just a dream. You're safe here. You can open your eyes and make it stop," he said softly.

His words didn't reach her, and she continued to struggle restlessly. He had seen this before, unfortunately there was a lot of ugliness that she seemed to relive in her dreams. "Brenda it's time to wake up," he said louder. She screamed again and then her eyes flashed open full of terror.

"You're safe, it was just a dream," Jason said stroking one cheek gently with a finger.

"Then why does it feel so real?" Brenda asked starting to cry.

"Just focus on being safe now," Jason said moving to sit on the edge of the bed and pulling her up into his embrace. She cried softly in his arms for a few minutes and then Jason heard the terminating deep breaths and loosened his arms.

"Why don't I turn the lights on," Jason suggested getting up and crossing the room.

"Thanks, did Cruz leave?" Brenda asked lying back down.

"Yeah maybe ten minutes ago. He loves you," Jason said surprising himself with the last sentence.

"What did you say?" Brenda asked.

"Cruz, he loves you. He mentioned that earlier," Jason said.

"You talked to him? You don't usually get along. I mean he's a cop," Brenda said surprised.

"Well not really, but I guess we both care about you. He isn't as bad as Taggert anyway," Jason said.

"Well Taggert is just a jerk, Cruz is a wonderful compassionate and caring man," Brenda gushed. "So what else did he say?" she asked her eyes starting to sparkle again.

"Basically just he loves you, he wants to spend his life with you, and he respects our friendship or something like that," Jason swallowed his frustration. He could see the sparkle that had returned to her eyes. He supposed she deserved at least a few minutes to bask in Cruz's love.

"Awww," Brenda gushed. "I love him too, and I'm trying to not shut him out, it's not like it was with Jax," Brenda promised.

"Well that's good," Jason said. After the stunt Jax had pulled on Brenda's anticipated wedding day it had taken Jason a long time to not want to smash the guy's face in every time he saw him. Honestly the only thing that had kept him from doing it in the immediate period after their wedding had been the realization that Brenda would only be hurt more if he had. 

"Thank you for getting along with him, you never did that with Jax," Brenda said.

"Well like you said, I guess it's different than it was with Jax," Jason suggested. "Do you want me to stay in case you have another dream?"

"No, I'll be alright and you don't need to spend another night sleeping in a chair bed. After all you just spent a few hours with Carly that must have been an exhausting experience," Brenda said with a smirk.

"Actually Carly left about an hour after I got there. I took Michael and Morgan to dinner at Kelly's and they made you cards," Jason explained picking up the cards and handing them to her.

Brenda studied the cards intently for a few minutes. "This is so sweet, you'll have to tell them thank you. I bought Michael the new Harry Potter book they were having an early release party, I had forgotten about that. Maybe you could bring it to him," Brenda said.

"Well you've had a lot on your mind," Jason offered.

"Yes I guess I have. Anyway I should let you get some sleep, you're a good friend, I'm glad my first impression of you was completely off," Brenda said yawning.

"Your first impression? Oh you mean when Robin and I were first together after the accident?" Jason asked.

"No, I mean when I first met you at Thanksgiving at the Quartermaine's house," Brenda said. At first when she and Jason had tried to resurrect their friendship she had been afraid to talk about memories from before the accident that had killed his parents and left him with traumatic brain injury. In time she had realized that Jason could handle hearing about the past as long as she could allow him to live in the present. "I had just taken the nanny job a few weeks earlier when the evil stepmonster realized that I still had access to my trust fund and stopped that. The only problem with the whole nanny thing was that I really had no idea what I was doing, I mean Breanna had just been a baby when my stepmother kicked me out of the house. Anyway it was Thanksgiving so I was supposed to be watching both Katelyn and Brooke. Katelyn was typical Quartemaine precocious and already walking at nine months but I couldn't really appreciate that because that meant I had to chase her everywhere. Brooke was three months old and I was completely overwhelmed. Fortunately Emily and Alli were great and were helping me out," Brenda rambled remembering that November day in 1994.

Jason listened to her, not really sure how he fit into the long and drawn out story but he had learned that asking that question would only frustrate her and she would ramble even more before getting to the point. "Ok" he said.

"Anyway then you showed up for Thanksgiving dinner and pointed out that I was a pretty ineffective nanny and I shouldn't be making Emily and Alli do my job," Brenda said.

"I guess I hadn't had much experience with kids then so I could make ridiculous comments like that," Jason offered.

"Well Katelyn adored you so it was much easier for you, but yes at the time I thought you were a jerk. Even though Alli and Emily swore you weren't," Brenda admitted.

"Yeah I definitely sounded like a jerk, sorry. But promise me one thing," Jason said.

"What?" Brenda asked innocently.

"Promise me that this wasn't an ingenous ploy to convince me to go to the Quartermaines for dinner," Jason said.

"Truly it was just a random memory Jase. But it wouldn't kill you to go to dinner at the Quartermaines. Katelyn still adores you, it's just really hard for her to know how to express that given everything that has happened," Brenda said.

Brenda's words surprised him. After the accident Jason had eventually reinvented a relationship with Emily and Alli mainly because of their persistence that their beloved cousin still existed in some sense. Katelyn had only been barely two when he had the accident, he couldn't really believe she had bonded so closely in a way that hadn't dissolved at that young age.

"I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on you Jason, I promise," Brenda said yawning again.

"Is Katelyn really hurt that I don't spend time with her?" Jason asked. He really had never considered that possibility. Katelyn had been so young when his life changed he hadn't really believed they had been aware of his existence before. Although perhaps he was wrong there.

"When you first came back Katelyn didn't realize things were different, not surprising she was two and you looked the same. But you had no patience for her. Monica and Alan kind of ran interference I suppose and redirected her," Brenda said.

"Then she moved on?" Jason asked uneasily.

"Well somewhat, I mean she's growing up into a beautiful, kind, and confident young woman. Perhaps all the things I never was at that age but I so wish for Breanna. Katelyn keeps you in her heart and her prayers though that I know for a fact," Brenda said.

"So was that why she was upset when Michael started swimming? Was she jealous that Michael is my buddy and she isn't?" Jason wondered.

"I'm not saying that Katelyn wouldn't give you a second chance, or that Katelyn doesn't still love you. But if you think that Katelyn's issue with Michael this winter had anything to do with you then Carly really does have you believing in her delusions," Brenda said flatly.

"What do you mean? Michael started swimming at the health club this winter. Carly explained that Katelyn and Nicole were rather rude and mean to him and made fun of him for being slow," Jason recalled Carly's version of why Michael only lasted about three months on the swim team.

"Well as someone who witnessed a few of the incidents I'd say Carly has a rather selective memory. Katelyn never made fun of him, in fact she tried to help him with his strokes. Nicole did swim faster than he could but Nicole swims faster than most of the boys and I don't think she ever made fun of him that's just not Nicole. But even if she did say something to him it didn't give him the right to hit her, hard enough to cause her nose to bleed once. It was after that, when things with him and Katelyn became awkward, mainly because she is protective of her little sister," Brenda explained.

"He hit her?" Jason asked in disbelief.

"Yes more than once, and I guess Alan talked to Carly after the first time. Carly got angry and insisted that Alan and Monica were overreacting," Brenda said.

"Anyway after he bloodied her nose and she had to get x-rays to make sure it wasn't broken the health club removed Michael from the swim program for liability reasons. Carly was supposed to take him to counseling, I'm not sure if that happened or not," Brenda recounted.

"I don't think so. I think it would be a good idea though, he's really not a bad kid," Jason defended.

"No I don't think he is. He's just been through a lot. I'd be surprised if he felt secure at this point, I mean he's going through a third Carly and Sonny divorce now and he's dealt with being kidnapped twice, his mother being kidnapped, his mother faking her own death, and her absence when she's been hospitalized multiple times. I agree the counseling thing would probably be a great idea," Brenda said.

"I think he and Morgan saw someone after the kidnapping two years ago," Jason said absently.

"Which was a good idea, but that was two years ago and it sounds like Michael needs some more help now," Brenda suggested. "Listen I know that Carly will think I'm just saying this to get at her and I'd be the first to admit I don't consider Carly a friend but I'm truly thinking about Michael now," Brenda said.

"I believe you. I'll talk to Carly, I wanted to this evening but she was in a hurry to get ready for her date with Jax," Jason said. "Sorry," he added as an afterthought.

"Don't be. Jax and Carly together doesn't bother me. Although I didn't realize it at the time apparently I never really mattered to Jax that much. If he's happy with Carly then I'm happy for him," Brenda said.

"I know that things between you and Jax didn't end well," Jason said.

"Well no, being humiliated on what was supposed to be my wedding day in front of a thousand people was not the ending I was anticipating. But I suppose that perhaps the only surprise in all of that for me really was that Jax could be so cruel. Before that day I'd really never seen that side of him. But then I suppose I shouldn't talk because I realize how much I hurt Jax by shutting him out. I wasn't ready to marry him, I think we both knew that. The irony is that when he confronted me about that kiss I shared with Sonny and I said I was finally over him I was telling him the truth," Brenda said playing with the blanket on the bed.

Jason wrapped an arm around his friend. "You didn't deserve what happened."

"I suppose I wouldn't think anyone does, even Carly. But maybe she and Jax are true soul mates. Perhaps they will have a really healthy relationship," Brenda said.

"I'd doubt that but get some sleep," Jason said.

"Thanks, you too," Brenda said curling up under the blankets again as Jason turned the light out on the way out the door.


	32. Chapter 31: Another Sleepless Night

For the Love of Family

Chapter 31: Another Sleepless Night

Jason parked his bike in the garage under Sunset Towers and started towards the elevator. His mind was digesting the conversation he and Brenda had just had and he had resigned himself that he wouldn't be sleeping any time soon. When he reached the penthouse he was surprised to see Alexis and Sonny in the hallway lingering over goodbye. Alexis quickly excused herself seeing Jason.

"I'm sorry man, I didn't mean to turn her into a pumpkin," Jason offered lamely.

"It's alright; she has court in the morning and needs her rest anyway. Kristina is spending the night so she brought some things back for her for the morning," Sonny offered.

Jason sensed that he had interrupted a little more than Alexis dropping off a clean school uniform for Kristina but he decided to let it go. Sonny would tell him what was going on when he was ready. Plus he knew that if Sonny and Alexis were exploring the possibility of another attempt at a relationship that Carly would be livid and he'd rather not have that information for her to pry out of him. "Ok well goodnight man," Jason said opening the door to his own penthouse.

"How is Brenda?" Sonny asked.

"She must be feeling better, she's back to making me question turning my back on the Quartermaines," Jason quipped.

"You didn't turn your back on them Jason, they weren't able to accept that you were changed by the accident," Sonny defended his friends actions.

Jason had heard Sonny's explanation many times, perhaps so many he had begun to believe it. He'd even offered it himself, but in an instant he was beginning to wonder if perhaps he hadn't given them a chance to accept the changes. Perhaps he had really abandoned them as much as he wanted to think they had abandoned him. "Maybe, or maybe I just never gave them a chance to accept it," he finally suggested.

"Don't do this to yourself. I know that Brenda still feels very close to Edward, Monica and Alan but her experiences were different," Sonny said.

"Don't be upset with Brenda. I think she was just being honest, not manipulative," Jason said.

"I'm not upset with Brenda, you should know by now that is hard for me to do anyway," Sonny said as the elevator opened and Lois Cerullo stepped out.

"Did someone forget to tell me we were having a party?" Lois joked.

"Actually I was just heading to bed, goodnight," Jason said rather brusquely and disappeared into his own penthouse.

"Am I missing something?" Lois wondered.

"I think he's just worried about Brenda," Sonny said.

"Are Brenda and Jason an item? I mean I know I've lost touch with her but she's dating Jason now?" Lois asked.

"Actually she's dating Detective Cruz Rodriguez and don't even get me started on that topic," Sonny said.

"Why not? It sounds interesting, juicy even perhaps. Why don't you come over for a night cap and you can tell me all about it?" Lois suggested.

"You should come over to my place. Kristina is asleep upstairs so I should be around if she needs anything," Sonny said.

"Alexis is letting Kristina spend the night?" Lois asked incredulously.

"Yes," Sonny said simply. He realized that Lois hadn't exactly cared for Alexis when she had been married to Ned. He knew she felt that Alexis had widened the gulf between Lois and Ned which Sonny supposed might have been true. It was hard for him to think about the time when Alexis and Ned had been together. Perhaps he should have realized that the timing was off and there was no way Kristina could be anyone but his child. But he thought Alexis hated him then and he just couldn't face that.

"So do you have any of your special blend at home?" Lois asked interrupting his thoughts.

"Of course," Sonny said smiling and guiding her into his penthouse.

Next door, Jason fell into bed in a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt prepared to toss and turn. He still couldn't get Brenda's words out of his mind. Katelyn keeps you in her heart and her prayers though that I know for a fact. It sounded like something Emily would do. In spite of the way he had abandoned Emily after Lila had died when he called her she had barely hesitated to do whatever he needed. He knew that perhaps she had done it for Brenda. Of course he supposed she hadn't realized Brenda needed her when she had agreed to meet him a week ago. Had he abandoned Katelyn the same way years ago?

Jason's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He reached onto the table by his bed where he had dumped it and opened it. "Morgan," he said gruffly.

"Jason, it's Sam please don't hang up," came the voice of his ex-girlfriend.

Jason exhaled with frustration. Sam McCall was the last person he wanted to talk to. At one time he had thought he loved the woman, he had forgiven her infidelity with his best friend. He had even planned to raise Sonny's child as if it was his own. Of course then the baby was born stillborn and there wasn't a child to raise. Jason had tried to understand but it came down to Sam never believing he possibly could since it hadn't really been his child. They had finally given up trying a few months after the loss.

Ultimately after Jason and Brenda had proved to themselves that they could be best friends but never lovers; Sam and Jason had reconciled. Theoretically Jason knew that time was supposed to heal all wounds but somehow in Sam's case that wasn't true. She deeply resented his friendship with Carly and Brenda refusing to trust him that there wasn't anything more to the relationship. Things had gotten better for them when Sam was shot as bad as that sounded. Realizing that he could and might lose her had caused Jason to make himself believe he loved her. He had even told Alexis Davis that Sam was her long lost daughter, a statement he had believed to be true at the time.

Sam had survived, although not without a hysterectomy which meant that she would never be able to have her own biological children. Jason truly had tried to understand how much of a loss that had to be for her. He had moved her into his penthouse to recuperate and had tried to be supportive. He had tried to help her build a relationship with her mother and half siblings Kristina Davis-Corinthos and Molly Davis-Lansing. Sonny had questioned Sam's intentions and questioned whether she was truly Alexis' daughter. Jason had even taken Sam's side in all of that hoping that if he trusted her in time she would also relax and trust him.

Jason realized that most people thought that their relationship had ended because Sam had slept with the man she was alleging was her stepfather on her alleged mother's living room floor at the end of July. But honestly Jason had realized that things weren't going to work for them not the hot July night he stood in the muggy twilight holding a sobbing Alexis Davis but a few days earlier after Sam went ballistic after seeing him having a completely platonic lunch with Brenda at Kelly's. He just hadn't worked up the nerve to tell Sam that because she had started sobbing about never being able to have children at that point and he had been unable to tell her the truth.

As he replayed the events in his mind Jason remembered what he and Brenda had been discussing with a pang. His cousin Emily had been in town for the weekend visiting on a rare free weekend before starting a new medical school rotation. Brenda had made dinner plans with Sonny but had dragged Emily along unaware that Sonny was in one of his rages that they now all understood to be part of his bipolar disorder.

Jason had been out of town, well actually out of the country and he wished he had realized how bad things had been getting for his friend. Brenda had later told him that Emily had suggested perhaps they had been too close to see it. Perhaps it had been easier for her to believe he needed help and that if he couldn't see that she had an obligation to get him what he needed. Because she was Emily she had done it with compassion and convinced her surgeon father and psychiatrist to patch up Sonny's physical and emotional wounds. Jason had never thanked her, in fact he'd continued to ignore her. He felt badly about that and a lot of other things.

"Jason, are you still there?" Sam whined interrupting his thoughts.

"What do you want?" Jason asked gruffly his anger directed not only at Sam but also at himself.

"I need your help with something," Sam's voice wavered at the end. Jason supposed that before that insecurity would have drawn him back in. In fact it had drawn him back in late last September when Sam had come to him claiming that she had been framed for Miguel Escobar's murder. But too much had happened since then and Jason had no desire to travel back down memory lane with Sam.

"Sorry Sam not going to happen," Jason said closing the phone and terminating the conversation.

Jason stared up at the ceiling knowing that hanging up the phone wasn't really a deterrent or a way off of the trail of death and destruction that seemed to follow Sam McCall. He shut his eyes remembering the events of the past summer and autumn. That night he had consoled Alexis and offered her the guestroom in his penthouse because she hadn't wanted to go inside and face her husband or the woman she had thought was her daughter. Jason supposed he didn't blame her. Alexis had been flipping out but Jason had been calm perhaps he had later decided because he had already accepted that things with Sam were over. Jason had been on his bike and known that it really wouldn't be wise for him to be seen riding with the Assistant DA so he had called Johnny to come collect Alexis.

He had forgotten that Carly had left for a cruise with Jax earlier that morning and that had left Sonny in his still slightly fragile state with Michael and Morgan. Jason had tried to explain to Carly that it was probably a bad idea to do that but she had said that she was sure if Dr. Baldwin hadn't thought Sonny was ready to be released she wouldn't have released him. Anyway as Carly had pointed out Leticia would be around so it wasn't like he would have to do anything more with or for the boys than he was up to. Johnny explained that Sonny was heading to Kelly's with Michael, Morgan and Leticia and perhaps Alexis would like to invite Kristina and Molly. Brenda was apparently joining them as well.

Jason had hesitated to ask, as he knew that things between Alexis and Sonny had continued to be tense. But he also knew that they were both trying to find some middle ground for Kristina's sake. Alexis had surprised him by saying "Actually that sounds like a great idea, the girls were going to spend the night at Wyndemere but perhaps Nikolas could meet us at the launch."

Later the eleven of them including Sonny's father Michael Corbin nee Corinthos, and Johnny had sat and reminisced about happier times. Brenda had sensed something was wrong and pulled Jason away on the pretense of looking at something on her car.

"Ok so spill?" Brenda had said bluntly once they were outside.

Jason had hesitated, lying to Brenda was something he didn't think he had ever done and he didn't want to start but he had realized that telling Brenda his girlfriend had been sleeping with her stepfather wasn't just sharing his own betrayal but Alexis' as well.

"I need you to keep this a secret," Jason had finally said.

"My lips are sealed," Brenda had said smiling.

"Truly sealed this time, really Brenda this is important," Jason had said.

"Truly sealed, what is it?"

"Alexis and I caught Sam and Ric together," Jason had said simply.

"Oh gosh! I told you she wasn't good enough for you, you should listen to me on these things Jase because I really do have your best interests at heart, and I do firmly believe that there are women out there who are good enough for you just to distinguish me from someone else who does way too much meddling into your love life," Brenda had said.

"So you're admitting that Carly has my best interests at heart," Jason had joked.

"Well on some level perhaps yes as long as that doesn't interfere too much with what she really wanted to do anyway, which kind of invalidates the statement if you get technical so let's not. I'm sorry about Sam, but Ric and Alexis, yikes," Brenda had said.

"Yeah, she was pretty hysterical, anyway you can't mention this to anyone that isn't fair to Alexis," Jason had said.

"I won't. Does Sonny know?" Brenda had promised.

"I haven't told him, he won't handle it well. You know he's never trusted Ric, and he didn't like the idea of Alexis and Ric marrying in the first place," Jason had said.

"Well no, because he doesn't trust Ric which he has reason for. Plus if you ask me Alexis is the woman he loves. He may not be able to see that or want to see that but as someone who loves him and has been loved by him I can see that," Brenda had said smiling.

"Well aren't you just so smart?" Jason had quipped.

"Why is Brenda so smart?" Michael had asked and they had turned to see that Michael and Kristina had followed them outside.

Jason remembered how he come up with some lame non answer and been saved by the icecream man gladly giving Michael money to go purchase treats for himself and his siblings. He had later asked Michael about the how much of the conversation he had heard and Michael had claimed he had not heard what Brenda had said and that was why he had asked. It had made sense but Jason had noticed that after that day Michael had started to treat Alexis differently with more respect and had made an effort to get to know her. That had always made Jason wonder just exactly how much of the conversation Michael had heard.

A loud crash interrupted Jason's thoughts and Jason reached for the gun he kept under the mattress and crept out into the hallway. As he reached the top of the stairs going down to the main level he heard giggling and Spinelli's voice speaking to the giggler who he referred to as the 'blonde one'. Realizing that he was probably not about to experience a mob hit from sixteen year old Lulu Spencer he stuffed his gun into the back of his pajama bottoms and turned on the lights before going downstairs.

"Stone cold, the jackal and companion didn't mean to wake you," Spinelli said in his flustered sheepish way.

"I wasn't asleep but it's almost midnight on a school night. Lulu, do your parents have any idea where you are?" Jason asked realizing he probably sounded like lame but he thought about Emily and Alli when they had been that age he certainly wouldn't have wanted them wandering around with computer geeks and mobsters until all hours.

"Definitely not, you're forgetting Jason that my mother isn't capable of caring and my father just doesn't care. My dad has no idea where I am but that's ok because I don't have any idea where he is either," Lulu fired back. Jason noted that her words were slurred.

"Has she been drinking?" Jason asked.

"You aren't my father," Lulu said.

"No, I'm not your father but your father gave me a chance at a time when a lot of other people weren't. He wasn't all bad Lulu," Jason's words surprised him once they were out. 

He recalled that his first job after he left the Quartermaine house had been parking cars at Lulu's dad's old club Luke's Place. Lulu had been five or six then Jason thought and perhaps it had been the most stable time her family had ever known. It was after her father had largely divested himself from the mob, and after she had recovered from the whole aplastic anemia nightmare; both events Jason knew about only from things Mike or Sonny had told him. It was before all the sordid details about her father's rape of their mother had come out and her brother had moved into a room above Jason's bike shop. Jason remembered that time too well, and for almost a year he had felt extreme guilt over Lucky's presumed death. Of course then Lucky who was also a close friend of his cousins Emily and Alli had returned not long before her family was turned upside down as her mother went through a trial for a crime she never committed and then after she lapsed into catatonia after killing her stepfather in the middle of a psychotic break. Jason supposed that many people would say that Luke hadn't handled things well. But Jason tried to hold those thoughts because he wasn't Luke, wasn't in his situation. 

"Funny you probably knew my dad better than I did, or rather he knew you better than he knows his own daughter," Lulu challenged.

Jason was unsure how to respond to that so he just said, "You should call your brother to come get you, he wasn't too thrilled when I drove you home last time."

"Do I have to go home?" Lulu wailed.

"The jackal extended his hospitality to the fair Lulu," Spinelli offered.

"Spinelli she's sixteen so probably this sleepover is a bad idea," Jason suggested.

"Wow you actually know how old I am, you do know me better than my father," Lulu quipped. "Seriously please can I stay, Nikolas doesn't realize my dad disappeared again and I'm not up to dealing with that tonight," Lulu finished sadly.

"Weren't you staying with your grandmother?" Jason asked.

"No, she told my dad it was his turn, so he promptly left at least the state and maybe the country," Lulu finished.

"The jackal has been trying to locate the proud patriarch but well he's proving a bit elusive," Spinelli admitted.

"If Luke Spencer wants to disappear he can do it," Jason admitted.

"Yes, because disappearing from your daughter is what every proud patriarch would do," Lulu said. "Please don't make me go live with Nikolas it just makes things worse," Lulu pleaded.

"Ok you stay here tonight and I'll talk to Carly in the morning," Jason suggested. But as he said those words he shuddered. Carly was having enough problems dealing with Michael and Morgan's issues she wouldn't deal well with Lulu added on top of that. Lucky wasn't a choice as he was still doing the drug thing, he thought momentarily of Liz, Lucky's wife and his cousin's best friend. Perhaps Liz would be able to help he thought as he went upstairs to grab blankets and a pillow for Lulu.

Later Jason fell back into bed to toss and turn some more. He thought of Sam again. Well, not truly of Sam, more of the situation she had placed them all in last fall. His new penthouse mate was a practically a daily reminder of that time after all. Late last September Sam had come to him in the middle of the night claiming that she had fled police custody after they had picked her up for Ramon Horel's murder. Jason had known that Alcazar was behind that so he was sure that he or Ric were setting Sam up. Sam insisted that they had to get out of Port Charles and they fled together. Stan and Sonny helped them track down the computer hacker who had falsified evidence to frame them who was ironically right under their noses the whole time. Damian Spinelli, or the Jackal as he liked to call himself for some reason Jason had given up on trying to understand, was actually a member of the Port Charles High School class of 2006 and had apparently even been in some computer science class with his cousin Kirk. Which had meant next to nothing to Jason but Spinelli still continued to reference the association.

On the night that they were going to turn themselves in with the evidence they were ambushed by Lorenzo Alcazar's men led by his son Diego. Sam had shot Diego in self defense and Jason had been shot by Ric while unarmed. Jason had survived the shooting but Sonny had figured out by then that Sam was not really Alexis' daughter as she had claimed. What they hadn't ever been sure of was whether Sam had been working with Alcazar and Ric or whether she had truly been victimized by them. In the end the charges were all dropped and Jason did the honorable thing and help Sam get safely out of Port Charles and away from Alcazar who was bent on revenge after his son's death. Sonny strongly believed that she had been playing them but Jason decided it didn't really mater it was over, and as long as Sam stayed out of his life it would be alright. Of course keeping Sam out of his life, and more importantly the lives of the people he loved would be easier said than done. He would definitely need to discuss the whole situation with Sonny in the morning Jason decided flopping over on his stomach and making another attempt at sleep. 


	33. Chapter 32: Dawning of a New Day

For the Love of Family

Chapter 32: Dawning of a New Day

After talking late into the night with Lois, Sonny should have been dragging the next morning. But somehow he bounded out of bed before the alarm even went off at six am. While mixing up a batch of pancakes he realized that his psychiatrist would wonder if his extra energy meant he was heading into another manic phase. He really didn't believe that he was, after all part of parenting was surviving on inadequate sleep and it had been months since he had been able to get up early to fix a special breakfast for his kids before school.

Kristina on the other hand wasn't so ready to bound out of bed. "Come on Krissy, your school starts in forty five minutes and if you don't come down soon you won't have time for breakfast," Sonny cajoled.

Kristina responded by merely pulling the pink satin comforter up tighter to her chin and started to flop over onto her stomach. "You really are your mother's daughter aren't you?" Sonny quipped.

The words reached Kristina and she sat up in bed. "Can't I be your daughter too?" she asked hesitantly her lower lip quivering.

Sonny flashed a dimpled smile realizing she had taken him quite literally. "Of course you're my daughter too. It was a figure of speech, your mother never liked to get up early in the mornings either, you must have inherited this desire to sleep until noon from her," Sonny joked pulling her from under the covers and into his arms. "Come on let's go downstairs and eat while the pancakes are still warm and then you can get ready for school," he suggested.

"You made pancakes? Mommy never makes pancakes," Kristina said impressed as her father carried her downstairs.

"Well your mommy has many wonderful talents but pancakes or even cooking in general are not in her repertoire," Sonny quipped setting his daughter down in the kitchen.

"What's a repertoire?" Kristina asked giggling and taking two pancakes from the plate.

"A repertoire refers to a list of songs or dances or other talents that someone has mastered. It's a big word, but see that's something that is in your mother's repertoire knowing all the big words and using them often," Sonny said sitting down at the table.

"Well that's because mommy is smart," Kristina said.

"Yes, she is I hope you'll inherit your mother's intelligence," Sonny said as the kitchen door opened and Michael and Morgan trooped in.

"You came for breakfast!" Kristina exclaimed happily.

Sonny got up to get two more plates, glasses and silverware as his sons joined them at the table. "Is your mother joining us also?" he asked.

"Mommy is still sleeping," Morgan informed him.

"I see. Does your mother know that Max brought you here on the way to school Michael?" Sonny asked.

"It's not like she was going to eat breakfast with us," Michael said.

"That wasn't what I asked Michael. I don't want your mom to feel like we're trying to pull something over on her," Sonny said.

"What does it hurt? We wanted to have breakfast with Kristina. Jason took us to Kelly's last night and Grandpa was coming back as we were leaving and he said that Kristina was spending the night at your house," Michael explained.

"I see," Sonny said. He hadn't realized that Jason had taken the boys to dinner the night before. "Well in the future we should probably ask your mom before you come over for breakfast on the way to school," Sonny suggested.

"If we ask her she will say no. She does it just to spoil our fun I hate her," Michael shouted.

"You don't hate your mother so don't say that. I'll talk to your mother but I can't let you boys intentionally disobey her," Sonny said firmly.

Michael looked like he wanted to say something more in protest but after another stern look from his father he merely started eating his pancakes.


	34. Chapter 33: That Was Then, This is Now

For the Love of Family

Chapter 33: That Was Then, This is Now

After dropping all of his children off at school Sonny took a moment to appreciate what he had, three beautiful children. Plus at least one of their mother's didn't hate him he thought as he instructed Max to head over to PCGH so he could see Brenda. When Jason had told him after she had been hospitalized he had been hurt that two of his best friends had kept her relapse a secret. He knew Brenda didn't believe that they could ever have a healthy romantic relationship and he was trying to respect that but she had promised him that their friendship wouldn't change. In the past she would have called him and it hurt that she had felt she couldn't.

As he took the elevator to the sixth floor Sonny was overcome with a sense of dread as if something was happening to someone he loved. He thought first of Brenda because of where he was and as he rounded the corner to her room the cluster of people in the doorway confirmed his worst fears. Silently Sonny blended into the crowd and took in the scene. The woman he would always love lay there pale and uncomfortable and Dr. Monica Quartermaine stood just to the right of the crash cart. "That still looks like torsades, and her blood pressure is falling lets get ready to defibrillate charge at 360 joules. Give 2mg of Midazolam IV and 1mg of Morphine IV," Monica ordered.

"Drugs are in," one nurse said about a minute later.

"Defibrilator is ready," another added.

Sonny watched intently as Monica picked up the paddles and applied them to Brenda's chest. Monica intoned, "I'm going to shock in 3, 1 I'm clear, 2 you're clear, 3 OXYGEN clear!" Monica depressed the shock button and pressed down on the paddles. As the current transferred through Brenda, Sonny saw the involuntary muscle twitches as his mind took him back to an earlier time.

He was back in PCGH Emergency Department standing outside trauma one eleven years ago the night that Brenda had been struck by a hit and run driver outside Luke Spencer's old club. Sonny had later learned that it had been a hit by his father in law Hernando Riverra because he didn't trust Sonny to stay away from Brenda. Of course the irony was that it took watching Brenda come so close to dying for him to admit how deep his love still ran and that his marriage to Lily had been a sham at best. He and Brenda had planned to reconcile and he had planned to leave Lily. Then Lily got pregnant and Sonny had decided to stay in the marriage for his child. That might have worked except Lily's father had placed a bomb in his car, unfortunately Lily was the one who got into the car and was killed. After Lily's death Brenda and Sonny were both wracked with guilt and Brenda dated boy wonder AJ Quartermaine. Eventually they reconciled that winter and even planned to marry until Sonny worried about the danger he was putting Brenda in and called off their wedding. Brenda became the spokesmodel for Deception Cosmetics a joint venture between Jasper Jacks and Lucy Coe and escaped from Sonny's rejection.

"That's much better, blood pressure is coming back up and we're back in sinus rhythm. Just keep infusing the Magnesium and potassium. Next BMP in three hours and make sure you call me with the results," Monica's voice invaded Sonny's thoughts. He brought himself back to the present as he heard a pager go off.

Dr. Quartermaine silenced and then looked down at her pager frowning. "That's the cath lab, I've got to go but page me if we have any other problems," Monica said removing her gloves. She hesitated a moment and laid a hand on Brenda's shoulder. "I'm sorry we had to do that but I think things will be a lot better now. Do you want someone to call Cruz?"

"He's at work this morning. I'll be ok," Brenda said weakly.

"Hang in there Brenda, as I said before lot's of people love you. I think Emily was going to drop by on the lunch break from her ACLS course," Monica said then turning to leave.

Around Sonny the crowd dissipated as the extraneous nurses got back to their own patients and someone started to wheel the crash cart from the room to restock it. One of the last to leave was unit charge nurse Epiphany Johnson who glared at Sonny on her way out. Sonny half chuckled at her glare, last he had known she had worked down on one of the med-surg units on four, perhaps this was a step up for her. Her son Stan was one of Sonny's employees and she had made it abundantly clear that she didn't approve of what he did on numerous occasions.

Hesitantly Sonny crossed the room. Brenda looked so fragile and it tore at his heart. He bent down and stroked a cheek gently and she turned to look into his eyes. "Hey," she said weakly.

"How are you feeling?" Sonny asked pulling a chair closer to the bed and lowering himself into it.

"I've definitely had better days," Brenda said wanly.

"I'm sure you have and you're going to have some better ones coming up too," Sonny said.

"Yeah, I'm starting to believe that. Not all the time but well sometimes you take what you can get," Brenda joked.

"Sometimes you do," Sonny said. There was more he wanted to say, more he felt he needed to say but he felt distant in a way he hadn't before. "I'm still your friend Brenda right?"

"Yeah, listen Sonny I know you're probably hurt that I called Jason and that I asked Jason to keep this a secret from you. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I have to learn to trust myself. If I let you fix this like you did before then it's just going to haunt me later," Brenda said.

"I just want you to be ok," Sonny said but Brenda could see the pain in his eyes.

"I know because you're a good friend, and I'm going to try really hard to get to that point. But I think I need to do it more on my own, which is so scary but honestly not as scary as imagining this being a part of my life forever," Brenda said.

"You don't have to do it alone Brenda," Sonny said.

"I didn't say alone I just said more on my own. I do appreciate what you did for me five years ago and because of that I'm alive now. Honestly I'm not sure I could have fixed things if you hadn't. But this time I have to try, and if I fall then I have to get up again," Brenda said.

"Why are you pushing me away? I told you I'll always love you but I can respect that we can't be together that way. I can do that and be your friend and I'd rather do that than not have you in my life. Give me a chance to at least try," Sonny said.

"I'm not pushing you away, I promise. Maybe it's kind of like with your bipolar, for years we all looked the other way, and dealt with the aftershock because you really have a good heart. But what you really needed was an opportunity to get the medical care you needed. I suppose Emily was more able to see that because she wasn't so emotionally invested in your life. I'm glad she was there that night," Brenda admitted.

Sonny wanted to protest but the more he thought about it he realized she had a decent point. "So what do you need me to do?" he finally asked.

"Be my friend," Brenda said simply.

"I can try, and I'll try not to try to fix things. It's hard though," Sonny admitted.

"I'm sure it is," Brenda agreed.

"See I was hoping you would say to make you some of my great crepes. Now see that I could do," Sonny joked.

"Well you can do that too. Actually there is something else you could do but before I tell you promise you won't get upset. You can refuse to do it just don't be upset," Brenda said with one of her patented smiles.

Sonny tensed fearing what she was going to ask. "Ok," he said at last.

"Could you try to get along with Cruz because I really love him," Brenda said.

"Cruz Rodriguez, the cop?" Sonny asked.

"Yes, but he's a wonderful man Sonny. I mean you eventually even got along with Mac Scorpio. If you can do that this should be a breeze," Brenda said.

"I can try. Perhaps the two of you can come over for dinner, actually scratch that people will be insinuating that he's on my payroll like they did with your nephew Cooper," Sonny joked.

"Well in Cooper's case I suppose it appeared too convenient that he showed up in Port Charles, enrolled in the police academy and happened to be my nephew. He's had a rough last couple years between the whole Iraq thing and then his mother dying. He will be twenty one in December so he's grown up pretty fast," Brenda said.

"Yeah, is he still looking for his father?" Sonny asked.

"I didn't realize he was," Brenda said uneasily.

"I just know Spinelli was working on it for him. From what I could translate he wasn't having much luck," Sonny said.

"Hmm something in the cyber world that mystifies the jackal oh no!" Brenda joked.

"Ok you're starting to scare me here," Sonny said smiling.

"Well Jason tried to explain," Brenda said.

"So do you know who Cooper's dad is?" Sonny asked. He had always been curious.

"No, I mean I was nine when he was born. Julia had left home when I was seven, she and dad really didn't get along. Which makes it rather ironic that she took over part of his business. Of course she used to joke that he only gave her a branch to get her out of the house. Which may be true," Brenda said with a wry smile.

"If you were nine she must have been pretty young herself," Sonny said.

"She was twenty four, she was fifteen when I was born not quite as old as I was when Bree was born. Anyway we never knew she was pregnant until after the baby was born. From something one of her friends once said when I was older I had to wonder if Cooper was a child of rape," Brenda said.

"Do you want me to order Spinelli to stop the search?" Sonny offered.

"It's not my place to do that. If Cooper thinks he wants to know the truth, that is his right. I worry about what that will mean for him but it's his truth not mine," Brenda said.

"You're a brave woman," Sonny said.

"Sometimes moreso than other times. You could do me one favor though," Brenda said.

"I thought the favor was playing nicely with Detective Rodriguez," Sonny quipped flashing some dimples.

"Ok a second favor one favor for me and one favor is sort of for Coop even if he won't see it. When Spinelli finds the information give me a heads up before you tell him. He doesn't have to tell me what he found, just that he's done and that he'll be telling Coop, that way I can make sure this doesn't happen during some week I'm out of the country," Brenda suggested.

"I'll tell Spinelli that," Sonny agreed. "I've seen the aftershocks of Ric and Courtney discovering their heritage," Sonny said.

Brenda thought of both of his half siblings who were both dead. Although she knew that Jason didn't believe that Ric Lansing was really dead. She was sure that Spinelli was probably also supposed to be working on showing that Ric was alive.

Speaking of reclaiming your heritage how are Lois and Brooke?"

"I suppose Ned filled you in on his version already," Sonny said.

"Actually not really. Monica brought Katelyn and Nicole to visit on Sunday and Brooke was with them which I admit I found very odd. So, I called Lois and she gave me the thirty second version that Brooke got in trouble. Ned filled in a few more details when he came to visit the next day. I guess court went pretty well and she's living with Ned now," Brenda said.

"That's the plan."

"Let me guess, Lois is not thrilled," Brenda said.

"Would you be if you raised your daughter largely on your own to have someone take her away and give her to the man who abandoned her in the first place?"

"Ned totally needed to step up more than he did, but Lois didn't make it easy for him. I consider them both friends and Brooke is my goddaughter. I want what's best for her, which I still think is having both parents in her life," Brenda said.

"Well maybe Ned is changing, we'll see what happens," Sonny said.

"I think he's really scared for her Sonny, He's admitted that he should have done things differently so maybe a second chance is all they need," Brenda suggested.

"Maybe," Sonny said warily as Jason walked into the room. He gave Brenda a quick hug and then stepped back to face Sonny.

"Hey," Sonny said.

Brenda could feel the tension and felt guilty; she should have known that asking Jason to keep something from Sonny was a mistake. "Sonny listen don't be mad that Jason didn't tell you I asked him not to. Which was unfair of me, and I'm sorry. But we've talked now and I need to give you the chance to be my friend so why don't the three of us just have a group hug and move on?" Brenda suggested.

"It's not you Brenda, Sonny and I have some other things to talk about," Jason said.

"About what we talked about last night?" Brenda asked referring to their conversation about Carly and Michael.

"Well at some point we do need to talk about that also but there is something else a little more pressing," Jason said.

"Well I need to sleep anyway so why don't you go get some lunch from Kelly's and enjoy what looks like it's going to be a beautiful day," Brenda suggested.

"Will you call if you need something?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah, I will but I'm going to go to sleep, and I'm going to be ok," Brenda promised.

Sonny gave her a hug and then turned to go but one of the cards on the table caught his eye. He reached for the familiarly crooked printing and picked it up. The card was indeed from his youngest son Morgan. He looked at Brenda quizzically. "I think the apocalypse is coming, Ashton apologized to me; Eddie and I actually had a dare I say nice conversation at Kristina's art show, and Carly had the boys make you get well cards. What will be next, Alcazar actually becoming a legitimate business man for real?" Sonny joked.

"Actually Jason brought me the cards, and I'm guessing Carly doesn't realize Michael and Morgan made them. But Ned apologizing I have to hear so give me a call and tell me that story after lunch," Brenda joked.

"Will do," Sonny promised following Jason out of the room.


	35. Chapter 34: Awakenings

_If you watched GH Spinoff - Port Charles you met Dr. Chris Ramsey a surgeon determined to make his way to the top without much regard for the toes he stepped on along the way. Port Charles became obsessed with Vampires just as Dr. Ramsey was realizing that his actions had consequences so that storyline was never explored and his character didn't grow much after that. Since I find the whole Vampire thing too far fetched to deal with I decided to allow Chris to grieve and grow instead. As mentioned in Chapter 22--Chris is now an internist who has an interest in antiretrovirals and HIV. He's far from perfect but he's no longer afraid to admit he has a heart._

_This chapter explains the recreation of Dr. Chris Ramsey and gives us some insight into Kyle Durant's past and emotional state in addition to his medical secret. I think my theme for all the writing I do is that there are a lot of connections in life that we make and they can definitely change things. So while Guza refuses to admit that anyone can be connected outside of whoever he has paired them with I tend to look for forgotten character connections and bring them to the surface._

Enter Gina Williams, as Stone & Jagger's sister she was once close to Karen and it was even hinted at one point that she wanted to find a way to connect with Robin because Stone had loved him. I take advantage of that by having Chris and Gina meet at Karen's memorial service Gina is instrumental in Chris growing from his experiences of the past. He's a changed person but his old quirks are still there and ironically perhaps they could be helpful. Gina returns to PC as a pediatric intensivist who brings her brother's legacy to life in her compassion for her young patients. She's the good Chris sees in the world and he is inspired to do a selfless thing and introduce her to his old friend Kurt Addison a PC resident and a engineer for ELQ.

With Kyle unable to tell his own story he needed a spokesperson and I was going to create yet another OC but I decided to instead borrow someone from another soap. I borrowed Scott Parker Chandler. He fit because he can have a connection with Skye in PC and he has a unique perspective having watched his mom die from HIV in the late 80s. The only catch is that I've never really watched AMC so I don't have a feel for who he really is. I've kept most of his history similar but he's probably a different person and I suppose in a way an OC.[Although he was never SORASed in my version so although he is about the age that he should be based on his age in 1989 when his mother died he actually lived his late childhood and adolescence rather than aging five years overnight as seems to have happened on AMC from the research I have done. Therefore his multiple debacles in love and lust I kind of didn't write in. I did let him start college early and he and Kyle Durant were both 16 their freshman year at NYU and realized they had a lot in common and became friends.

This storyline will focus mostly on Kyle, Faith, Scott, and Chris but we will catch up with whatever happened to Sarah Webber and it serves as a lead in to Lucas Jones revealing that he is gay as well. 

_This chapter is super long---probably too long but there isn't any logical break because so much of it is interwoven between Dr. Chris Ramsey's thoughts and flashbacks. So take a deep breath I guess, get comfortable and read away (If you have ideas on how to rework this I'd be thrilled to hear them:) )  
_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 34: Awakenings

Two floors down Kyle Durant opened his eyes to the brightness of noontime sun with a raging headache. It took him a moment to orient but then he realized he was in a hospital and he tried to piece together how he had gotten to that point. But it wasn't coming back to him. He started to sit but quickly flopped back to the pillow as the headache intensified feeling weak and overheated. He looked up as the door opened and a doctor walked in casually carrying a folded stethoscope. "Your girlfriend will be pleased to se you are awake, I'm Dr. Chris Ramsey, I'm one of the internists here at PCGH," the doctor said. 

Kyle tensed at Chris' words wary of what and how much Faith had learned. "How are you feeling?" Chris attempted to convert the one sided conversation.

"My head is killing me," Kyle finally managed it was a struggle to get the words he wasn't sure why he just wanted to go back to sleep. Perhaps that would be reprieve from the pain he thought shutting his eyes.

Chris laid a gloved hand gently on the man's sweaty shoulder. "I'm sure it is, and I'm sorry about that. We can get you something more for the pain," Chris offered. In the eighteen hours since he had spoken with Faith Ward he had learned a lot. Initially he had attributed the loss of consciousness to dehydration and hyponatremia. After all Kyle had come in with a sodium of 114. But as he thought more he was wary he was missing something. The ER doctor, his friend from internship days Dr. Joe Scanlon had appropriately done a Head CT which was negative but something didn't fit and then as he was pondering Chris remembered something he wasn't supposed to know and knew he needed to proceed with the spinal tap. Of course that had meant he needed to get consent for the procedure. Of course he wasn't sure how to explain the need for the procedure without revealing information that was none of his business in the first place and certainly not his to share. He had been about to go talk to Faith again until the nurses informed him that his patient actually had a health care proxy on file. Looking at the form Chris had been very surprised to see the name listed.

Shuddering Chris had put his personal feelings aside, picked up the phone, and dialed. Standing at Kyle's bedside he still shuddered at the prior day's memory.

In Pine Valley, PA Marian Colby Chandler had answered on the second ring picking up the faux antique phone from her bedside table. "Helloooooo," she had crooned.

Chris had shuddered on the other end of the phone and prayed that perhaps he would be fortunate and Marian wouldn't recognize his voice. "Good evening this is Dr. Ramsey from Port Charles General Hospital I'm trying to reach Scott Chandler," he said.

"Scotty hasn't lived here for over a year," Marian had droned.

"I'm sorry this was the number that was listed. Do you have more recent contact information for him?" Chris had asked praying she wouldn't realize who she was talking to.

"I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday, how do I know you are who you say you are? Why don't you give me a number and I'll have Scott contact you," Marian had challenged

"Fine, I'm a doctor at Port Charles General Hospital and the hospital number is (607) 547-5555," Chris had offered.

"I didn't catch your name before," Marian had said noting that the voice sounded very familiar.

"Dr. Ramsey," Chris had replied.

"And your first name Dr. Ramsey?" Marian had asked.

"Oh I'm the only Dr. Ramsey on staff," Chris had said. He had no desire to be reunited with Marian Colby Chandler. Hearing the news that she had married Stuart Chandler eight years earlier had been the best music he had heard in 1999.

"Your first name wouldn't be Chris would it?" Marian had asked.

Busted, Chris had thought silently cursing his luck.

"Yes," he had said weakly.

"Well isn't this a lovely surprise? You're a doctor now? I had always known you would go on and be someone and to think I knew you when you were just a waiter at Club Nouveau. I really have meant to find you and apologize all these years," Marian had gushed.

Chris had hesitated wondering if it was a trap. He had met Marian Colby when he had been working his way through school waiting at Club Nouveau. He had heard about Marian's penchant for younger men and made a major mistake by leading her on. When Chris had regained his conscience or become annoyed depending on your perspective he had ended things. Marian hadn't taken that well and had continued to stalk him. He had moved across the country for medical school but Marian had followed him there often popping up when he least expected it.

In 1997 he had started his internship at Port Charles General Hospital and much to his delight Marian had disappeared. He certainly hadn't been looking for her. Although eventually curiosity, or perhaps fear had taken over and he had done a little digging and learned of her 1999 marriage to Stuart Chandler, the free spirited twin brother of Chandler Enterprises CEO, Adam Chandler. Interestingly Stuart was within five years of Marian's age, and Stuart's twin brother was married to Marian's daughter Liza. Chris had smirked at Marian's daughter being her sister in law and was sure that youth obsessed Marian probably insisted her daughter introduce them as "sisters" and he had moved on with his own life.

Not that his own life hadn't been complicated enough in 1999 he was fighting the guilt of all he had done in the past year and a half. He had been so desperate to come out on top that he had actually almost gotten a colleague killed. So much for the primum non nocere of the oath he had taken. While assuaging his guilt over how he had treated Dr. Matt Harmon he befriended another colleague Dr. Julie Morris Devlin who was framed for the murders of several physicians and nurses at their hospital including her own father. Chris had supported Julie through her trial, commitment to Fern Cliff, and then the appeal process. Ultimately she had been acquitted and they had married and been working on getting her daughter Christina back. In the end though the judge ruled in the adoptive parents the Baldwins' favor and Julie took justice into her own hands kidnapping her own child.

It had been a tense time especially since Scott Baldwin's oldest daughter Karen was one of Chris' colleagues. Chris could see the pain that losing Christina had put Karen and her family through and he felt guilty because his private investigator had uncovered that Karen had struggled with a drug problem during high school and he had insinuated he had concerns Karen might be using again during the custody battle. Although Chris' insinuations didn't help Julie they came back to haunt Karen after a patient died in their ED during a code Karen had run. In the end the panel review concluded that Karen had not done anything wrong and eventually Chris and Karen repaired their relationship and Karen shared some good news that Julie had called her and was planning on returning Christina to her father and Lucy. Karen had promised Julie she would meet her collect her little sister and allow Julie to escape.

Karen had kept her word to Julie in a way but she had allowed Chris to tag along to the meeting spot. After Karen and Christina were safely gone Chris had gone after the woman he had once loved and demanded answers. The answers Julie had given him had not been what he wanted to hear, or at least not at the time. In a hotel room out of town Julie had explained about the recently diagnosed brain tumor which had perhaps made it easier for Greg Cooper to manipulate her into believing that she was a killer and perhaps explained her impulsive action to steal her own child. He remembered how he had asked what it was and when she had told him it was a stage IV glioblastoma he knew how over things were.

Julie hadn't wanted him to see her die, knowing that it would not be pretty. It was a selfless and also selfish act on her part and Chris had often wondered what her final days had been like. At her request he had allowed her to leave and go to an inpatient hospice unit to spend her final days.

Julie had died on the day that his best friend Dr. Eve Lambert another internist at PCGH had brought her son into the world. Eve had encouraged him to see the day as one of birth not death as she knew that Julie would have wanted that. Eve had told him that she and her husband Ian Thornhart a pulmonologist wanted to ask him and Karen to be their son's godparents and that for the first time she could see a future for all of them and it didn't terrify her.

A changed man Chris had believed his friend's words until she died less than a year later leaving a barely six month old little boy without his mother. At Eve's memorial service he had sat with Dr. Joe Scanlon, Dr. Matt Harmon, and Karen and reflected on the reality that they were the only surviving members of their internship class. They had discussed how much they had all changed but vowed to bond together one final time to support Ian and Eve's son, Daniel.

Unfortunately about a year after that Karen and her adoptive sister Christina were struck by hit and run driver and killed. It was ironic since Karen had been planning to reconcile with her ex husband John "Jagger" Cates. At Karen's memorial service Chris had met Dr. Gina Williams, Jagger's little sister who had been adopted after their parents' deaths but reunited with her older brothers in her later teens.

Gina had been the one who helped him make sense of the series of events that they had called life. Theoretically they had dated, but Gina was a pediatrics resident and then a PICU fellow at Denver Childrens and Chris remained in Port Charles. What they really had done was created an honest friendship very similar to what he, Eve, and Karen had. Gina had also been there for him when his mother and youngest sister died at his father's hand but by that time he had introduced her to an old friend from his college days, Kurt Addison, who happened to be a long time Port Charles resident and was a chemical engineer for the pharmaceutical division of ELQ Enterprises. Gina and Kurt had both been there for him after his mother and youngest sister had died at his father's hand in November of 2005. Gina had finished her fellowship and returned to Port Charles in February of 2006 to help Chris with his sister Kara who was very traumatized by everything that had happened.

Of course Gina's return had also given her the opportunity to get closer to Kurt and Chris and Kara the opportunity to distract themselves at times from their own pain by working on getting Gina and Kurt together. When Gina and Kurt married in October of 2006 Kara had been Gina's maid of honor and Chris had filled in for Gina's older brother who had disappeared in April of 2004 and remained among the missing.

"Chris? Are you still there? Did we get disconnected?" Marian had asked.

"I'm sorry, I just got a page I'll need to take but please have Scott call, a friend of his has listed him as their health care agent and we need his permission for treatment," Chris had said. He had hung up the phone and took a very deep and cleansing breath.

Marian had apparently come through because less than five minutes later he was truly receiving a page to the hospital operator for an outside call. He had spoken with Scott Chandler and explained the situation. Scott had given permission for the spinal tap and promised to be on his way. Chris had hung up the phone uncertain what to make of the situation. He sensed that Scott knew more than he was letting on.

At one time Chris had been the ultimate schemer and he had always needed to know everyone's last secret and use those secrets to his advantage. It was that modus operandi that had led him to uncovering Matt's connection to the Mancusi crime family and to lead them right to his colleague. Chris wasn't sure what he had been thinking and realized that if Matt had died that night he would have been as guilty as the person who did pull the trigger. It was after that when he truly hated who he had become and nearly left medicine altogether. But he and Eve had talked and she had helped him to see that it would make a lot more sense to become an honorable man than to just lock himself up in his guilt. In time he had he supposed sort of done that. It hadn't been as easy as flipping a switch and becoming a good person and there were certainly moments that he wasn't proud of like the way he had handled things during the custody hearing.

Still old habits died hard which was why Chris knew a little bit about Kyle Durant. It had surprised him that a high powered prosecutor from Philadelphia would take a job working for a small city district attorney's office. Admittedly Port Charles and Chapparal County had a unique arrangement where the same District Attorney's office handled Port Charles city and Chapparal county crimes to combine resources. But still it was small compared to what Kyle had come from. It might have made sense if Kyle had been taking the District Attorney position. Which Chris supposed he had the right pedigree as the son of US Attorney John Durant, and the right resume as a Magna Summa Cum Laude and law review graduate of University of Pennsylvania Law School. In digging a little Chris discovered that John Durant had a very apropos name as he had supported himself through law school running a prostitution ring. One of his "best girls" had been Barbara Jean "Bobbie" Spencer and "Cyclone Carly" Caroline Benson Spencer Corinthos was their child. Apparently Carly had scooped Chris on that story and had threatened to expose her father for what he was and suddenly she had financing for the new club she wanted to open. It was very convenient how that worked Chris had figured. In his earlier days he would have respected the resourcefulness but uncovering the information in 2005 he was only struck by the fact that perhaps the Spencer-Durant family could be more dysfunctional than his.

He supposed he had also wondered if John Durant had regretted his past since he gave his daughter the money, didn't charge her with extortion, and came to town to claim her as his daughter in early 2004. Or perhaps John Durant was where Carly had inherited her scheming and realized that by exposing himself as her father he had severed at least one potential source of future extortion. When Kyle had joined them in the spring of 2005 the cover story was that he wanted an opportunity to build a relationship with the half sister he had never known. But that had seemed too easy and well non-dysfunctional for Chris to believe and he had gotten to the bottom of the real story.

But when he had learned the truth he hadn't made plans to blackmail Kyle he had actually said a prayer to give the man strength and then he had tried to forget the information he knew. But he hadn't really forgotten, and it had all come back as he had stood at the man's bedside wondering if they were missing something else. He knew that Kara would say that it was an example of how God worked in ways no one could understand and Chris had supposed that maybe she was correct.

He had done the spinal tap which had shown an elevated opening pressure and as Chris had feared the India ink stain had been positive. He had written the order for amphotericin B and ordered a viral load and CD4 count typing orders into the electronic medical record system with a heavy hand. He had typed in his signature code and turned to see Dr. Gina Williams-Addison approaching.

"Rough day?" Gina had asked.

"Yeah a little I have a patient that's not doing well," Chris had said.

"I know how that is, although at the moment my little friends are getting better," Gina had said smiling.

Chris had smiled back at the way she referred to her patients as her little friends. She was special young woman, gentle, kind, and smart. Her patients were very fortunate. "Are you on call tonight?" Chris had asked.

"Yes, and things were calm enough that I sent my resident to get dinner and now they're back so I thought I'd see if you were around and interested in the hospital cafeteria," she suggested.

"Yeah I'm going to be here forever, I've got a patient who has a sodium of 114 so we're trying to fix it they will be calling me with the next basic metabolic in about an hour so why don't we go eat now?" Chris had suggested and they had taken the elevator down to the cafeteria.

As they had eaten Gina had asked about his silence, "What are you thinking?"

"About irony I suppose," Chris had said.

"Irony? It's painful sometimes isn't it?"

"Sometimes, in this case the situation is but maybe the ironic thing is that I'm the best doctor for this patient," Chris had said.

"You're an excellent internist Chris, I still don't understand why you can't see what everyone else does," Gina had said.

"You didn't know me before Gina which is probably why you speak to me now but today my past actually may have helped me make a diagnosis," Chris had said.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't really explain because to do so would violate confidentiality although ironically the patient hasn't told me a thing. See I came into some information I shouldn't have and I didn't use it but now because I know it changes my differential diagnosis and my treatment plan," Chris had explained.

"Well I think that's good right?"

"Yeah maybe it is," Chris had said wistfully.

They had finished their meal and Gina had returned to the PICU where she would be spending the night watching over "her little friends" and Chris went back to the stepdown unit on the fourth floor. He logged into the computer and checked the labs encouraged that the sodium had climbed to 116 after three hours. That was progress, he went back into the room and regarded the man that lay before him. Although still unconscious Kyle looked anything but comfortable as he shifted his weight a little under sweat soaked sheets.

Chris had taken away the damp sheet and replaced it with a dry one uncertain if the chills and fever were from the infection or possibly the medicine he had prescribed to treat it. Unfortunately there was a reason that many medical students and interns referred to Amphotericin B as "Amphoterrible". He turned hearing the door open and saw Leyla Mir one of the nursing students standing in the doorway with a man he didn't recognize. "Oh Dr. Ramsey I didn't realize that you were in here, this is Scott Chandler, he said he is Mr. Durant's health care power of attorney," Leyla had explained.

Chris peeled off his gloves and then extended a hand to the man, "We spoke on the phone earlier. Why don't we go outside and talk about the results of the spinal tap," Chris had suggested.

"Of course let me just let Kyle know I'm here," Scott said. Chris and Leyla had watched as he crossed the room and took the man's hand into his own and squeezed it. "I wish you had called me sooner, but I'm here now Kyle and it's going to be ok," Scott had whispered.

Chris had taken Scott into the quiet room and explained that Kyle had an uncommon form of meningitis caused by a fungus called Cryptococcus neoformans.

"Did Kyle tell you that he has HIV?" had been Scott's first question.

"No, but he hasn't been responsive since the paramedics brought him in. Although not always, this kind of meningitis usually happens in patients who have had some kind of insult to their immune system, like HIV," Chris had explained.

"Yeah, I know, and the treatment hasn't gotten much better over time has it?" Scott said.

"We're giving him the liposomal form of Amphotericin, called Ambisome which is better tolerated although patients still have problems with rigors, and fevers, but a lot less renal issues so that's an improvement. Does your friend have an infectious disease doctor? I got this as an unassigned admission so that pretty much excludes him having established with Dr. Quartermaine or Dr. McCullough?" Chris asked.

"I think he's still seeing someone in Philadelphia, Dr. Munoz."

"Oh, ok she gave a lecture at the conference I was at last month, if you could sign a release I could get her records which would be helpful," Chris had said.

"So you're an ID guy also? I guess I figured you for general IM," Scott had questioned.

"Actually I did internal medicine and then a fellowship in toxicology. I probably have about thirty percent of the regions HIV patients though, my research is actually in anti retrovirals. Dr. McCullough is infectious disease trained and he probably has another sixty percent. The remainder see Dr. Alan Quartermaine who is actually a pediatric and trauma surgeon. From what I understand Dr. Quartermaine began managing thing back when there was still a lot of confusion about what the disease was and wasn't. I've heard it referred to as a calling of compassion that brought him outside of his traditional career roles," Chris had explained.

"Does he still do surgery?"

"Yes, and he's very good. Perhaps one of the finest pediatric and trauma surgeons in the state, he's been our Chief of Staff since I came here as an intern and I don't see anyone running against him any time soon," Chris had said.

"That's pretty impressive, I guess it's true when they say everyone has a story," Scott has said.

"Are you a physician also you seem pretty clued in on things?" Chris had asked.

"No, I considered that route though. I was good at science and I had a good role model in the doctor who had cared for my mom at the end of her life but I ended up taking the advocacy route instead. I'm an attorney for the AIDS Institute in Albany," Scott explained.

"Didn't you speak at one of the Nurses Balls in maybe 2004?" Chris had asked.

"Yes, I did. I'm a bit of film guy in my spare time, apparently this very intense woman named Lucy Coe got a hold of my documentary and was certain that her annual event would not be the same without me," Scott had said blushing.

"Intense? I like it's a nice neutral word to describe Lucy, I will have to remember that one," Chris had quipped smiling.

"Her heart is in the right place," Scott had offered.

"I think it is, and as someone who spent years with mine not being who am I to judge?" Chris had said.

"Who are any of us to judge we've all done things we aren't proud of. Actually it's funny that I did come to your Nurses' Ball because I have an advocacy friend who is practicing here now. She did take the medical route to things and was training in Colorado when I came to speak but I guess it shows what a small world we live in," Scott had said.

"Are you talking about Gina Williams?" Chris had asked.

"Well Gina Addison now but yes. She lost her brother to this about six years after I lost my mom, it gives you a different perspective on things. Wait are you Gina's Chris?" Scott had asked.

"Well I'm not sure that Kurt would like to think she possesses me but yes Gina and I are very good friends. She's a special young lady and if her brother could see her now he would be so proud," Chris had said.

"Did you know Stone?"

"No I never met him, I started my residency about eighteen months after his death. I heard his story and heard of his legacy. One of my internship classmates was his sister in law. I actually never met Gina until Karen's memorial service," Chris had explained.

"I met her at Camp DreamCatcher six years ago. She was twenty three and a pediatrics resident then I guess. The kids adored her but there was something that was wrong you could just see. Over the summer the story of her parents death in the accident and then her brother's loss to the virus came out," Scott had said.

"Gina is special, she really helped me a lot after I had a series of losses in my life and she's definitely gotten my little sister Kara to open up to her in ways I wouldn't have been able to."

"It sounds like you love her," Scott had said.

"As a friend yes, Kurt is actually a college friend of mine, I introduced them," Chris had said proudly.

"I remember her mentioning that, I so wanted to attend her wedding but my father had a heart attack right before and well Gina told me her wedding was not where I needed to be. My stepmother was having a hard time with everything, she had thought that she lost him once before and I think that just made her more concerned," Scott had said.

Chris had shuddered knowing that he was talking about Marian Colby Chandler. He had almost forgotten about Marian's connection to Scott. Chris nodded uncomfortably.

Scott sensed the doctor's discomfort. "Marian told me that I should apologize to you. I guess she kind of stalked you in the past. Yikes that sounds awful to say, Marian definitely has changed since meeting my dad," Scott had stated.

"Well I'm not sure it was as bad as stalking, I'm glad she's happy now. To get back onto topic how much have you and Kyle discussed about the specifics of his condition and what he would want done and not done?" Chris had asked.

"He told me about the virus, we've been friends since college so he knew about my mom and that she died from AIDS. I would have sent him to the doctor my mom had but she's moved to California so she recommended Dr. Munoz. He probably should have started anti retrovirals around the time that everything fell apart for him. He had some concerns about side effects and honestly I think he was too caught up in his depression to do it. To my knowledge he hasn't ever started on therapy," Scott had admitted.

"Well actually that may be better than the scenario I was envisioning. I don't have the viral load or CD4 count back yet but given this infection I'd suspect that his CD4 count is under 200. If he isn't on therapy then I can be a lot more optimistic about starting therapy than if he's on a failing regimen," Chris had said encouraged.

"I care about Kyle like a brother, but you're in for a fight because he gave up on his life when his illness became public. He's pretty distrustful of the medical establishment and for good reason, someone leaked his HIV status to the press while he was trying a major case. The DA's office just wanted it gone so they got rid of him in a highly illegal move but Kyle just wasn't going to fight it. He came to Port Charles on the pretense of having a second chance and I suppose I was optimistic that things would be good here. But then when his dad was killed last year I think he just really had lost everything. He's going through the motions, I don't think he wants to die I just think he's afraid to try. He lost his fiancée in the fallout she just couldn't accept his illness and that really broke his spirit," Scott had explained.

"Well Port Charles is an interesting community, we certainly have our problems. The mob insinuations are more reality than myth, in the past two years this town has been through a hurricane, a train collision in the GlenCoe tunnel just outside of Port Charles which led to multiple deaths. On the heels of those two events we had our own version of the SARS epidemic and that hit particularly close to home for this hospital because several physicians and nurses were among our death count. We were back in the news three months ago when deranged Darren Malloy killed two children in front of a lobby full of hostages at the Metro Court Hotel downtown. So I'd be lying if I said Port Charles was a place to choose to relocate. But one thing I think this community gets is HIV. So if there is ever a place to come out and be accepted perhaps that is Port Charles and perhaps that is Stone Cates' legacy," Chris had said.

"I wanted to believe that, but it's not just the town Kyle hasn't even found the courage to tell his sister," Scott had said.

"Well, I don't know how well you know Carly Corinthos but I'm not sure she'd be the first person I'd advise him to open up to," Chris had joked.

"I've met her, I understand she's got her own issues," Scott had said diplomatically.

"That she does, and if Gina Williams can think I'm a good person then there has to be hope for anyone. I guess right now we focus on what we can do for Kyle and that is correct his sodium and try to treat the infection and hope he makes a recovery so we can talk about better managing his illness," Chris had suggested.

"Well in spite of your self reproach I'd agree with Gina and I'm glad that Kyle has you as a doctor. I won't ask you to share your HIV story now but in time I'd be interested to hear it if you want to share," Scott had said.

Chris had been taken aback by the words. He didn't have an HIV story, well unless he considered how the virus had touched Gina's life and then how it had touched the lives of countless patients over the years. "I don't really have that story though, I actually started my research in that direction because there was a lot of funding. That was before I knew Gina, and although I had heard Stone's story and the stories of others it wasn't personal for me. It's become more personal though, my patients have touched me and have made me realize how weak I truly am," Chris had admitted sadly.

Instinctively Scott had reached out touched his shoulder, "I'm sorry when you talked about a series of losses I took them to be more personal," he had said.

"Oh they were, but perhaps they were more preventable and that's harder to deal with," Chris had admitted.

"I don't mean to pry," Scott had said.

"It's alright, none of us can go back so we try to go forward, one step at a time," Chris had admitted.

"Right you are my friend," Scott had agreed.

"What's wrong with me?" Kyle struggled to get more words out and Chris pulled himself away from his thoughts.

"Let me ask the nurse to bring you something more for the pain and then we'll talk," Chris suggested pressing the call light.

"I don't feel good," Kyle said weakly. Chris shuddered, from what he knew of the attorney and from what he had learned from his conversation with Scott he knew that he wouldn't normally open up like that. He suspected he was probably still feeling the effects of the fever and his low sodium which had climbed steadily up to 123.

"I know. We're going to take care of you though," Chris said gently pulling a chair closer to the bed and sitting.

The door opened and Liz Spencer poked her head in, "Did you need something?" she asked.

"Mr. Durant needs some pain medicine and some more Tylenol," Chris said.

She left and returned a few minutes later with a syringe of morphine, a few flushes, and some tablets. She injected the medicine and handed the cup to Kyle who struggled a little to grasp it, take the pills and swallow some water.

"His friend is here, should I ask him to wait until you're done?" Liz asked.

"Scott Chandler?" Chris asked.

"Yes, I wonder if he's any relation to Skye," Liz said.

"He's her cousin I believe. Mr. Chandler is Mr. Durant's health care power of attorney so if it's ok with Mr. Durant I don't mind speaking with him," Chris said to Liz. He then turned to Kyle and asked, "Scott is here is it alright if he comes in?" Chris asked.

"Scott is a good friend," Kyle said with effort.

"Yes, I'm sure he is," Chris agreed.

Chris got up from the chair to allow Scott to sit. "I'm glad to see you're back with us man. We're not ready to let you check out," Scott said.

"I'm sick," Kyle said breathlessly.

"Yes, you have something called cryptococcal meningitis. That's why your head hurts so much and why you feel overheated and feverish. We're giving you medicine to treat the infection but we need to also help your immune system get better. We need to take some steps to try to manage another kind of infection. We need to try to treat your HIV or you may not survive this," Chris explained.

"Will you let them help you?" Scott asked.

"Yes," Kyle said simply breaking into a fresh sweat.

"Good, just try to rest. You're in a good place," Scott promised and watched as his friend's eyes drifted closed.

"I don't think that he really understood what he was agreeing to," Chris said.

"No, but if you don't help him he's going to suffer and maybe get better right? If you do help him he's going to suffer and maybe get better right so in a sense we might as well go for it. If he gets better he can always decide to go off the medications right?" Scott challenged.

"When you put it that way it makes a lot of sense. I got Dr. Munoz's records and reviewed them, you were right he never really had any anti retroviral therapy to speak of. His CD4 count is under one hundred so I've started him on Bactrim and Azithromycin for prophylaxis. His viral load is nearly one million. I'm waiting for the genotype to come back, we should have it in a few hours. I'm likely going to start triple therapy with zidovudine, lamivudine, and efavirenz. I can give you some information on the side effects and they are not insignificant but his labs look like you're right and either we try to bring him out of this or we say goodbye," Chris said.

"I knew this was a ticking time bomb and maybe I just don't understand. When my mom was dying we didn't have these drugs she didn't have this chance," Scott said.

"Well we'll do everything we can, and we'll hopefully give him another chance to decide if he wants this chance," Chris suggested. "I have to go make a few other rounds but have the nurses page me if you need anything else. Oh word to the wise, his girlfriend Faith Ward should be back sometime this afternoon. Apparently she got on Epiphany's bad side so she was banished to home last night before you arrived which ended up being convenient if you don't know each other," he finished.

"We haven't met, Kyle thinks she's a sweet girl but he hasn't let himself get too close. He doesn't believe he can love again that way because of the virus but I guess she's been kind of persistent, she thinks she loves him," Scott said.

"Perhaps she does, patients with HIV are still people. Obviously there are considerations regarding intimacy but that doesn't mean she can't and doesn't love him," Chris said.

"I'm not the one you have to convince of that, but I've messed up so many relationships recently that I don't dare give him dating advice," Scott joked.

"Oh join the club," Chris said going off to make rounds.


	36. Chapter 35: Father Figures

_We needed a little bit of lighter chapter and at least the appearance of comic relief. If you've come to hate Sonny & Jason on GH give them a second chance here because while they're still criminals they aren't exactly the unfeeling jerks Guza tried to turn them into. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 35: Father Figures

Across town Jason and Sonny had finally taken Brenda's advice and were sitting in Kelly's having lunch. "So what's up?" Sonny asked.

"I got a call from Sam last night," Jason said bluntly.

"I thought she was out of your life," Sonny said.

"I want her to be out of my life, notice I didn't call her Sonny," Jason protested.

"What did Sam want?" Sonny asked tersely.

"I don't know I didn't really give a chance to explain but I have Stan following up on some things," Jason said.

"Well have him make sure she isn't involved with Ric because I still think this was all a setup," Sonny said.

"I know you did but Stan could never find a link between Ric and Sam before," Jason offered.

"You mean other than sex on the living room floor, which by the way do not let Michael listen to that song, it just sets Carly off and then we're back to fighting over the boys again," Sonny said.

"What?" Jason asked completely confused.

"You know that Shaggy song, you let Michael listen to it in the car he was singing it at home, and Carly thought it was a reflection on my relationship, her relationship, someone's relationship. I don't even know anymore… when did we make things so difficult?"

"I don't listen to music in the car, I have no idea who Shaggy is," Jason said throwing up his hands and taking a bite of his burger.

"He's one of those gangster rap guys I'd rather Michael not listen to anyway, but if it wasn't you I'll talk to Max and Milo," Sonny said also throwing his hands up in the air. "Anyway back to the Sam situation, Stan needs to find the link between her and Ric because then that will lead us to Ric and we can end this whole stupid cycle and maybe we can all move on with our lives before we destroy everyone we care about in the process," Sonny said.

"Well Stan's working on it, I thought about having Spinelli do some digging but he definitely doesn't see Sam as a threat so I'm worried about him getting hurt," Jason admitted.

"I think the further Spinelli stays out of this the better, but I think that about most things regarding Spinelli," Sonny admitted as the door to Kelly's opened and Spinelli came through the door with Lulu Spencer.

"Godfather! Stone Cold!" Spinelli greeted them.

"I told you not to call me that," Sonny said smiling through gritted teeth as Spinelli pulled an extra chair to their table and then motioned Lulu to sit.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Jason asked turning to Lulu.

"You aren't my." Lulu began.

"Yes I know I'm not your father but if you're going to move in then you will be going to school is that clear?" Jason said.

"Wait so I can move in?" Lulu asked smiling.

"Only until we can find something more permanent," Jason said.

Spinelli extended a hand out to Lulu for high fives only to miss when she allowed him to slap her back. Sonny politely deflected his eyes to the remains of his lunch stifling a chuckle. "Stone cold really has proud patriarch potential, you'll see Lulu," Spinelli said.

That was too much for Sonny and he allowed the laughter to escape as his father Michael Corinthos Sr. who owned the diner came over to take Lulu and Spinelli's order.

"So what can I get you?" Mike asked with a smile.

"Something to go because someone is very late for school," Jason suggested.

"Can't I just go tomorrow? Seriously it's after one, by the time I got there I wouldn't even have an entire class left to go to," Lulu protested.

"Fine you're going tomorrow and you're going on time and you're going to be in at a reasonable hour as well, and no drinking!" Jason fumed.

"Whoa! Dial back a little bit there proud pseudo patriarch," Lulu said and then realized what she had said. "Oh my gosh I'm turning into Spinelli," she wailed.

"I like that, I'll have to remember that one," Spinelli said but then he caught the look Jason was flashing and changed his mind. "Or not, Stone cold works quite well for me," he said nervously.

"Jason works well for me, but then as I was telling Kristina this morning I'm not really a man of big words," Sonny quipped.

"Hmmm and Stone Cold isn't a man of many words, maybe that is why you make a such good aces of the underworld as a pair," Spinelli suggested.

"If you order in the next fifteen seconds I'll buy you lunch," Sonny offered.

"I'll have the reuben sandwich with a diet coke,"Lulu said quickly.

"The cheesesteak with some nectar of the gods," Spinelli ordered.

Chuckling Mike departed with their orders. Sonny looked at both kids uncomfortably. The scary thing was that one day Michael, and Kristina would be their ages and he really hoped that he would be keeping things together better than Luke Spencer was.

There had been a time when Sonny had considered Luke his friend. He truly believed that but they never really recovered from some of the things that were said after Lucky had been thought to have been killed in a fire in Jason's bike shop. Of course Lucky hadn't actually been dead and the fire hadn't actually been set by one of Sonny or Jason's enemies but by Helena Cassidine who had used it as a ruse to kidnap Lucky.

Lucky was actually alive and came back to them, but somehow Luke and Sonny never reconnected the way they once had. Perhaps, because they both had their own issues. Ironically as Sonny thought about it perhaps they had similar issues and maybe that was the problem. He was curious about what the situation with Lulu was and how she had ended up living with Spinelli and Jason. As he thought about that and everything going on with his goddaughter Brooke-Lynn Ashton he realized he needed to have many more moments like his breakfast with Kristina. Kristina needed to know her father loved her, because from what Sonny had seen in Brenda, in Lulu, and in Brooke not knowing that or believing that could have horrible consequences. He didn't want that for anyone's little girl, but Kristina was his little girl and there was something he could do he resolved as he finished his lunch.


	37. Chapter 36: Failing a Friend

_If you're a huge Sarah Webber fan don't hate me too much. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 36: Failing a Friend

Back at PCGH, Scott watched his best friend sleep, if he could call it that he supposed. It brought back memories of his mom's last few weeks of life, and how his adoptive father Stuart had known exactly how to support, comfort, and connect. He had been only barely nine years old when his mother had lost her valiant battle in 1989. It hadn't been easy to grow up without his mother. He had an entire list of moments he wished they had been able to share but he had accepted reality. In college he had inherited Kyle Durant as his first roommate thanks to the all knowing department of housing computer who had decided that they were "compatible". Ironically they had a lot more in common than being minor nonsmoking males which, after his own time as a resident advisor, Scott had learned was all the computer matched on anyway.

In time Kyle had told him about his own mother's death. Kyle had only been twelve when Marlene Reynolds Durant had been the victim of a drive by shooting. Kyle had insinuated that his father had believed that the shooting was gang related as Marlene had taught at a middle school in the projects of Boston. It had brought out a very different side of Kyle that clashed with the wealthy pre-law fraternity boy by night. By day there was Kyle who shot hoops with the kids on Saturdays at the Boys & Girls club. Scott understood that sons lived their mother's legacy. Just as he would work for advancement to a cure and compassion for those afflicted something largely missing for his mother during her time of struggling. Kyle could attempt to turn the other cheek and to hope that reaching out to a child today might take them away from behind the trigger tomorrow.

Scott turned hearing the door open and saw Liz coming in. "Sorry I just need to get some vitals and hang these antibiotics. Dr. Ramsey wanted us to give anything we could IV because he's not sure how well he's absorbing things orally right now," she said setting down to IV bags on the table and then reaching up to cycle the blood pressure cuff that was on his right arm.

Kyle stirred and moaned in his sleep, "Shhh it's ok just rest," Liz whispered.

"You have a soothing voice that must come in handy in nursing," Scott observed.

"I guess that's my mom voice," Liz said smiling.

"You have children?"

"Yes my son is almost six, he's great probably one of the best things Lucky and I ever did," Liz said wistfully hitting a button so that her vitals would be downloaded into the system.

"Kids at that age or really any age are precious," Scott agreed.

"Do you have children?" Liz asked hanging the first antibiotic on the pump and untangling the tubing.

"No, not yet. My girlfriend is in her final year of her PhD program so she's spending a ton of time in the lab well and this year interviewing for jobs. I guess in time," Scott said. 

"What is she doing her PhD in?" Liz asked.

"Molecular biology but she's focusing on retroviridae," Scott said.

"Like HIV?"

"Yes, mostly HIV, she's actually trying to get a job with the pharmaceuticals division of ELQ Enterprises here in Port Charles, because I guess they have what seems like unlimited funding," Scott had joked.

"So you might be moving to Port Charles?" Liz asked starting the pump and allowing the antibiotic to infuse. She reached for the second bag and started to repeat the process.

"We might, Erika was actually out here interviewing two weeks ago. I almost came with her but I had something going on at work. I wish I had, maybe I would have realized something was up," Scott said sadly.

"You can't blame yourself," Liz said.

"I know you're right in theory it's just in practice it's hard to not feel like I've failed a friend," Scott said.

"Yeah I can relate only in my case it was my best friend, my husband," Liz said sadly. Realizing what she had said she looked down at her clogs hit the start button on the IV pump and ran from the room.

Blinded by her tears and embarrassment she didn't even realize that Faith Ward was coming through the door until it was too late. Scott watched the two women collide in the doorway. He watched Liz step back and then push her way back through the doorway.

"Wow what happened to her?" Faith asked surprised.

"I'm not sure," Scott answered honestly.

"I'm Kyle's girlfriend Faith, Faith Ward," Faith began extending her hand.

"Yes, Kyle's mentioned you a lot. You're also on the board at Ward House," Scott said taking her hand. "I'm Scott Parker Chandler, Kyle is one of my best friends since college," he explained.

"No relation to Skye Chandler right?"

"Actually, Skye is my cousin. My adoptive father Stuart and Skye's father Adam are identical twins," Scott explained.

"Identical twins that's interesting, did you ever confuse them when you were growing up?"

"Well no, not really because I was almost eight when I met them. My dad was teaching this art class for kids at the local community college. Somehow he and my mom started dating and the rest is largely history," Scott explained.

"So then he adopted you after their wedding, that's sweet," Faith said smiling.

"Yes he did and considering my mom died about six months after they married it was really important," Scott said sadly.

"Oh I'm so sorry, it's hard to lose a parent when you're young. I know, I wasn't quite twelve when my dad was shot. I guess it's one of the unhappy things Kyle and I share in common. Was that why you became friends?" Faith asked.

"Well we became friends because we were forced to share a room the size of a closet in college but now I'd honestly say he's the one person outside of my dad or my perhaps my friend Gina who has my back. He's a fraternity brother but not just in that sense he really is my brother and I'd do anything to see him get well," Scott said.

"But I thought Dr. Ramsey said this was just the flu," Faith looked at him confused.

Scott hesitated and took a moment to curse Sarah Webber silently. It was ironic because he had never really trusted Sarah and had hardly been happy when Kyle had called him all giddy to announce their engagement three years earlier. Because Kyle was his best friend he had tried to be happy for them and tried to convince himself that he wasn't seeing who Sarah really was.

They had both been in a horrible accident shortly after the engagement. Sarah who had been driving had been relatively unharmed but Kyle had suffered major internal injuries and only after multiple blood transfusions and surgery to repair his liver lacerations had he survived. Scott didn't blame Sarah for the accident, it had been a rainy night and even if there might have been something that someone else could have or would have done differently it wasn't helpful to think about that. As much as he hadn't liked Sarah he knew that if Kyle didn't survive Kyle would want him to look after the woman he loved. But Kyle had survived and things started to get back to normal that fall as Kyle went back to his job as an attorney for the city of Philadelphia and Sarah started medical school at Hahneman University. They had tentatively planned to marry in June of 2006. It was a long engagement but Sarah's father had insisted that she couldn't possibly interfere with her studies to plan the wedding. Of course since the wedding never happened Scott supposed it was convenient that Sarah hadn't wasted valuable study time.

"What are you not telling me? I'm his girlfriend and I love Kyle I have the right to know," Faith demanded.

Faith's words reminded him of a conversation he and Sarah had had shortly after Kyle's HIV status was made public.

_"You knew," Sarah had said. It was a statement not a question._

_"Yes, I did and Kyle wanted to tell you, he was just looking for the right way. It was hard, and you didn't deserve to find out this way. I'm sorry," Scott had said._

_"You aren't sorry, If you were sorry you would have told me. You risked my life with your silence and there is no excuse for that. I'm naming you in my suit too and don't think I won't," Sarah had retorted her eyes flashing with fire._

_"Sarah I know you're hurt, and you have a reason to be. It isn't an excuse but Kyle was so afraid of how you would handle this. Life is ironic because he was planning to tell you this weekend. He had told me, even rehearsed what he was going to say. He loves you and I know that this diagnosis changes a lot but he's still the same man you fell in love with," Scott had said._

_"You can't say that because it's not true! He has AIDS and for the rest of my life I will have to deal with people whispering that I was dating a guy with AIDs, this is going to follow me for the rest of my life. I can't believe that Kyle could be so heartless. I don't know how I could have ever loved him," Sarah had flung back._

Scott remembered that at that moment he had wondered if he had been right all along and that she never had loved Kyle. Perhaps she had loved the idea of Kyle, of marrying a wealthy attorney who was on his way to becoming a top prosecutor. But her inability to see anything but how the situation impacted anyone but her had annoyed him. The man she had claimed to love had been infected with HIV through a blood transfusion that he had needed after the car accident they had been in the previous June. Because he had developed Acute HIV Syndrome Kyle had been diagnosed very early. Of course the viremia resolved, the controversial decision had been not to start antiretrovirals at that time and things had gone back to normal. Or as normal as they could be when you felt like you had a ticking time bomb inside Scott supposed.

Assuring the doctors that he wasn't having sexual relations with his fiancée or anyone Kyle had managed to avoid disclosing his illness to Sarah or really anyone. He had told Scott the truth about a week after he had come home from the hospital while Sarah had been on some cruise with her mother before starting medical school. Scott had helped him to see that things could be so much different for him than they had been for his mother and had helped him find a doctor in Dr. Helene Munoz as Dr. Angie Hubbard the woman who had been his mother's doctor had relocated to California. Scott had encouraged Kyle to tell Sarah the truth citing that it would only get harder over time. Of course as they had talked that July morning in Kyle's apartment he hadn't realized that the information would be leaked to the press less than six months later. He had then thought that Kyle could tell Sarah on his own timeframe. Of course he had been wrong.

"It's a little more complicated than that Faith, and I want to tell you but I'm not sure it's my place. I think you and Kyle need to talk when he's feeling better," Scott said.

"Please don't shut me out, I'm his girlfriend, I deserve to know the truth," Faith said.

Those words also brought back memories for Scott, and he was back standing in the corridor with Sarah Webber in February 2005.

_"I was his fiancée, I deserved to know. I never would have agreed to marry him if I had known, I wouldn't have even dated him," Sarah had said furiously._

_"When you agreed to be his fiancée Kyle wasn't infected. He contracted the virus through a blood transfusion Sarah and I know ideally he would have told you then but he was scared," Scott had made another attempt to reason with her. _

_"Are you forgetting I'm a medical student, hello we test the blood supply for HIV," Sarah had fumed._

_"Yes, and transfusion related HIV is so rare now but unfortunately not impossible. It's like that one in a million risk but if you're the one patient then it's life changing I suppose. Of course I think we both know that Kyle wouldn't have survived without that blood after the accident so it is what it is. I think now all we can do is be there and love him. I know you have to be terrified for him, I am and being a medical student maybe makes it worse. I lived this my mom died from AIDS when I was nine and things are so much different now, we can have hope for Kyle," Scott had poured out his heart to her, praying that she was really the kind and compassionate person Kyle thought she was. He had tried to hug her, but Sarah had turned away and the hard cold look in her eyes confirmed Scott's worst fears. _

_"How dare you try to turn this and make it my fault," Sarah had fumed._

_"It's not anyone's fault Sarah. We can't think that way we just have to focus on what we can do," Scott had made one final plea but even then he had been pretty sure that things were over. It was time to help his best friend pick up the shattered pieces of his life. _

_"Well it's certainly not mine, I'll see you in court and don't think I won't," Sarah had walked away from him at that point. _

Scott hadn't spoken to her since that day. Her threatened legal actions never happened, perhaps because she didn't want to make the issue surrounding herself anymore public. Or perhaps because there wasn't really a legal wrong. There were laws about HIV disclosure to sexual partners but that had never applied to Kyle and Sarah's relationship. Perhaps because of Kyle's illness, Scott could believe that they would have been intimate that way if Kyle hadn't known that he could infect her. Of course given how things had ended Scott supposed their lack of intimacy wasn't really a loss.

"Scott please, if he's sick I want to help him. I know something is wrong, we were getting so close and then he just kind of pulled back. I love him, whatever it is I want to be there," Faith pleaded.

"I think in his own way he loves you too Faith, I think he just can't admit that because he's afraid," Scott answered honestly.

"Afraid because of his illness? Afraid to let me love him because he thinks he might die?" Faith asked hesitantly.

"I think maybe, and also he and his fiancée didn't end things well and I think in general he's afraid to let anyone be close," Scott said.

"He only mentioned her once. She's a doctor right her name is Stacy or something?" Faith tried to recall.

"Her name was Sarah, and she's a medical student, I think she graduates next year, although we haven't exactly kept in touch after she broke off the engagement," Scott admitted.

"Well obviously she was a fool to let Kyle go, and if she did it because he was sick and she couldn't handle that then I guess it's not my place to judge her but that doesn't mean I can't or that it's fair for Kyle to shut me out and not let me make my own choices," Faith fumed.

Scott looked at the young African American woman, she was mad, but her anger was different. She was mad that the man she loved wouldn't let her help. He wished he could be sure she'd accept his friend's HIV status, it shouldn't matter what he was sick with but even in 2007 Scott knew that AIDS and Cancer were not viewed the same way by some people. Some physicians even, he supposed thinking back to Sarah Webber.

"Scott please tell me what is wrong with him. Maybe I can help, my cousin is married to AJ Quartermaine, his parents are both doctors some of the best and maybe they could help or they could know someone who could. Whatever it is I want to do something. I have to do something and if Kyle rejects me when he's better my heart will break but not as much as if I don't feel we've done everything possible for him. I love him so I want him to be well even if he can't find it in his heart to love me," Faith pleaded crossing the room to stand by Kyle's bed. 

Faith reached down and took Kyle's hand into hers and kissed it gently. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm here and I love you and whatever this horrible illness is and I'm guessing it's bad I still love you. I always will," Faith said kissing his hand again. She felt him move and looked down smiling hoping that he had woken up. But then she noticed it wasn't just his hand but his whole body that was moving, well twitching, shaking violently. "What's happening? Kyle it's ok," she tried to place a hand on his shoulder but he kept thrashing.

Alarmed Scott stepped out into the hall, "We need some help we need a doctor in here," he screamed to the petite blond woman who was coming out of the next room with a stethoscope around her neck.

Dr. Monica Quartermaine heard the man screaming and turned to Liz Spencer, "Jolene grab the code cart and call it," she instructed the student nurse who was shadowing Liz, "Liz come with me," she said.

"Do you know this patient?" Monica asked as the walked through the door.

"He's Dr. Ramsey's he has cryptococcal meningitis," Liz volunteered.

Monica quickly assessed the situation while grabbing a pair of gloves, it looked like a seizure. "Ok let's give him some oxygen and give Ativan 2mg IV now," she said moving past Faith to the bedside and reaching for an ambu bag that was on the wall.

Liz pulled the ativan from RSI drawer of the code cart Jolene had lugged into the room with a little help from Scott. She infused it through the IV but the medicine had little effect. "Give another 2mg and try to get a set of vitals," Monica instructed. "Has he seized before?" she asked.

"Not today and I didn't get that in report. He was awake for a little while earlier his sodium has finally come up to 125 I was about to call Dr. Ramsey with the good news when Mr. Chandler came out into the hallway," Liz said.

"When did this start?" Monica asked turning to Scott.

"Maybe two minutes before you got in here. He's been kind of in and out all morning, he's been really confused," Scott explained.

"Ok we're going to take care of him. Jolene go make sure that someone paged Dr. Ramsey he should be here and get respiratory in here we're going to need to intubate and protect his airway because this seizure isn't stopping," Monica commanded.

Scott looked from the doctor to Faith who was standing stiffly her hands cupped in front of her mouth but he could tell from the way her shoulders were bobbing through her sleeveless dress that she was sobbing. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back with him to stand by the wall out of the way.

"It's going to be ok," he whispered although he wasn't sure he believed those words at all.

Faith turned and buried her face in his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her as he watched another person come in carrying a black metal box and pushing what Scott realized was a ventilator. He stood beside the doctor and assembled a metal blade. "What size tube do you want Dr. Quartermaine?" he heard the man ask.

"An eight, Liz give him four milligrams of Morphine and another two of Ativan. Jolene go out and ask someone to pull dilantin from the Pyxis for you. We'll need one gram," Monica instructed.

So that was Dr. Quartermaine, Scott realized. He remembered he had met her and her husband briefly when he had attended the Nurses' Ball. He remembered that Alan had sung "You're Still the One" to her and at the table he had been sitting he had overheard a woman talking about the two physicians who had become a permanent fixture at PCGH. If he remembered correctly duty had called and they had both left the ball early to return to the hospital. Apparently they had been slated to perform a ballroom dance number, as apparently ballroom dancing was one of their hobbies. After Alan and Monica had made their necessary but hasty retreat to save lives Lucy Coe had announced that the show would go on and the Quartermaine children would be filling in for mommy and daddy. On stage appeared four girls possibly two, ten, maybe nineteen or twenty and perhaps mid twenties. They had broke it down to Sister Sledge's "We Are Family". The town gossip who had been stationed at their table had informed her friend that the oldest girl was really the nanny but that Alan and Monica had taken her into the family. Watching Dr. Quartermaine reach for the laryngoscope to begin the intubation Scott realized that the resemblance of the younger two to the woman standing in front of him.

Dr. Quartermaine inserted the blade and swept the tongue out of her way and lifted up to see the vocal cords, "tube" she said closing her hand around the plastic tube and then inserting it through the cords. She removed the blade, and pulled the stylet from the tube. She picked up the ambu bag and connected it squeezing a few times and noting how the color changed from yellow to purple. "We have color change, can someone listen for breath sounds?" she asked holding the tube in place while the respiratory therapist secured the tube.

Liz placed her stethoscope in alternative arm pits. "Equal," and then moved down to the abdomen. "I don't hear anything over the stomach," she said.

"Good let's get him on the ventilator. Assist Control, rate of twelve, and tidal volume 550 start there. Someone call for a chest x-ray. Do we have that dilantin yet and did someone call Chris?" she asked. The RT moved in to connect him to the ventilator tubing and Monica's last question was answered as Dr. Chris Ramsey came running through the door.

"What happened?"

"He started seizing, ativan wasn't bringing him out of it, they're getting us dilantin to load. I intubated to protect the airway," Monica explained.

"Thank you," Chris said.

"No problem, we all do what we can right?" Monica asked looking down at the disheveled young man before her. She thought of her own son they looked to be about the same age and then she realized Faith Ward's presence in the room. She looked more closely and realized that she was indeed looking at Kyle Durant.

Monica took a deep breath, she had been unaware that Kyle had AIDs. She supposed she didn't really know that he did but if he had cryptococcal meningitis and was admitted to Dr. Ramsey's service the most likely explanation was that his HIV infection was the reason for his immunocompromise and cryptococcal meningitis was an AIDs defining illness.

"I have the dilantin," Epiphany Johnson said running in with a bag from the pharmacy.

"Ok Liz get that drip going we'll see if we can get this seizure to stop," Monica instructed. "Thanks Epiphany you've definitely got your workout in today, between our near codes in two different step down units. Forget the stairmaster at the gym just become nurse manager for the stepdown units at PCGH which are stacked on top of each other on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors," Monica joked.

"No problem, although perhaps now Ms. Sneed will see why it might have made more sense to have a different nurse manager for each unit. I swear I'm the only nurse crazy enough to think I could possibly make it work," Epiphany protested.

"I agree with that I've often said that really stepdown should be its own separate units just like the ICUs have a separate manager for each unit," Monica said. "Oh it looks like the seizure has finally stopped," Monica said smiling.

"Do you know who is on service in ICU this week?" Chris asked.

"Dr. Thornhart for Pulmonary. I am for CCU," Monica said.

"Do you want to take this patient continuity of care and all?" Chris asked.

"If you want me to I will, although I think it could easily go to Ian because I don't think you have any underlying cardiac stuff right," Monica said.

"To my knowledge no, but this is a new patient for me, unassigned admission yesterday afternoon. I'd like you to take this if you would," Chris said.

"I will, let me see if Mallory will find us an ICU bed somewhere and we'll take care of things," Monica said.


	38. Chapter 37: Second Chances All Around

_I guess there are a few Sarah Webber fans out there...sorry!_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 37: Second Chances All Around

After Monica had left, Epiphany bristling on her heels probably to soak up a little more praise, Chris surveyed the remaining inhabitants of the room. The RT was finishing fiddling with the vent. Liz and the student nurse Jolene were tidying up the mess, Scott was still holding a sobbing Faith in his arms. "I'll be back in a few minutes I've got to do a treatment in 483," the RT Tim Reynolds said excusing himself from the room.

"How did this start Liz?" Chris asked.

"I'm not sure I had hung those antibiotics and I had to go check on some other patients, Scott came out in the hall screaming and Dr. Quartermaine and I came in," Liz explained.

"I think he needs at least another CT, if we could get a MRI right now that as well," Chris said.

"You don't think he seized because of the sodium?" Jolene asked.

"If that was the case it should have happened when he first came in, it's been climbing steadily since so I think it's probably related to the meningitis or maybe there is something else," Chris said.

"What kind of meningitis did you say he had?" Faith asked bringing her head from Scott's shoulder.

Chris looked at her warily. He hadn't intentionally misled her about her boyfriend's condition. When he had spoken to her initially he had thought that it was just dehydration but then he had remembered the piece of information about Kyle he had tried to forget. So then he knew he had to worry about opportunistic infections and he had been prepared to explain enough to her to get her to agree to the tap. But then when the nurses had revealed that Kyle had a health care proxy form on file that had given him a new perspective. You only took the time to fill out a health care proxy form and not list your girlfriend if you didn't want her to know. Chris realized that with HIV status it was complicated because although state law didn't give permission to share Kyle's status with her it did require him to notify her if he believed that they were sexual partners. However, after his conversation with Scott he didn't believe they were so it was much easier for him to just decide to leave Faith out of the decision making process.

"Cryptococcal meningitis, it's a fungal infection," Jolene said proudly.

"It happens in AIDs right? Didn't Stone have that?" Faith asked her voice quivering.

Chris didn't honestly know the answer to that question. From what he understood from Gina, Stone had lost his eyesight to CMV retinitis and suffered with Toxoplasmosis which was a parasitic infection of the brain. Ultimately he had been determined to have lymphoma which as it often did in AIDS had involved his brain. Ironically he didn't think that Stone had ever had cryptococcal meningitis, perhaps it had been one of the few mercies he had been granted.

"I don't think he did," Scott said.

Faith looked at him as she wasn't expecting him to answer. "You knew Stone?" she asked.

"No, I didn't but I know his little sister Gina very well and we've talked about Stone and his courage. My mom fought a similar fight, but a lot has changed since my mom and Stone lost their battles and I believe that things can be very different for Kyle," Scott said pulling Faith into a hug.

Faith cried, a lot of things made sense including Kyle's aversion to physical intimacy. He had been afraid to infect her and she could see that and it only made her heart ache more for him. Scott looked up and met Chris' eyes. He knew he had shared news that wasn't his to share but his heart was telling him he was doing the right thing and that it was better for him to share that news than for it to come from Dr. Ramsey. If Kyle survived he needed to have trust in Dr. Ramsey and he didn't need to question why he had told Faith.

Faith took a deep breath and raised her head from Scott's chest. "ELQ's Pharmaceutical Division is working on new drugs for this every day. I have a friend who is HIV positive and she's alive and healthy and there's no reason that Kyle can't be too. You'll see Scott, right Dr. Ramsey?"

"There are a lot of new advances, that is correct but right now Kyle is very sick and we have to both treat this infection and then try to help his immune system recover. Those medicines you've mentioned have a lot of side effects and his body is already very weakened by the virus and by this infection so it may not tolerate those medications. Those medications may make things worse," Chris said honestly.

"But we have to try right?" Faith asked.

"We are going to try. I was waiting on the genotype to come back to start therapy but I have it now and we will start three drugs lamivudine, zidovudine, and efavirenz. The efavirenz worries me the most because of it's potential for neurologic side effects but other drugs like it can be as bad so I guess we give it a shot," Chris said stoically.

"That's exactly what we do. We pray too, if it's one thing that GranMae taught me it's that we are never really alone, God is with us when we least believe," Faith said breaking from Scott's embrace and crossing the room to take Kyle's hand again.

"So now I know your big dark secret, and I just want you to know that it doesn't change anything about our love. Oh I'm still ticked that you thought you had the right to decide what I could and could not handle so you'll just have to get better so you can make that up to me," Faith forced herself to laugh and nervously Liz, Scott, and Jolene joined in. "I love you Kyle Durant, I love who you are virus and all. Because you are a person not a statistic and when you're better I'm going to help you see that, and then you're going to help someone else see that and GranMae is smiling down from heaven because she always believed in paying things forward," Faith said.

"Ok, well I need to check on how close we are to getting an ICU bed and write some transfer orders. Let me just say one more thing, the conversation we all just had does not leave this room. We are either health care professionals who took an oath to not share private health information with anyone who doesn't need it to care for our patient. Or we're trusted friends or family and we understand that our friends and family members deserve the right to share what they feel comfortable with when they feel comfortable. Does everyone understand?" Chris asked.

"Of course Dr. Ramsey," Liz said.

"Jolene?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," Jolene stammered with frustration.

"You know just for a minute I wish that we could let go of the stigma of this disease. I thought that when Dr. Robin Scorpio had the courage to stand up in front of friends patients even some enemies and denounce her shame that perhaps we could all be part of the solution. Kyle kept this secret from me and I guess many others because he apparently couldn't get past that shame and it may kill him so why do we have to be so secretive. Why can't we just accept that this is an illness that is killing some of our best and brightest because of ignorance and fear," Faith railed.

"I completely agree with your sentiments, I do. But I also respect my patient enough to let him make his own choices about who knows what about his life. I ask that you respect your boyfriend enough to do the same," Chris said.

"You know what's so pathetic about all of this?" Scott asked.

"What?" Faith asked.

"Your words sound very familiar to a speech quoted in the Port Charles Herald years ago. I think it was ten years ago in 1997," Scott said referring to an article Gina had shared with him from a scrapbook.

"It was 1997 and it was Dr. Robin Scorpio's speech and I was an intern at PCGH and I didn't have a clue about this disease. I thought I did, but I didn't so things are changing awareness is increasing. Locally Dr. Robin Scorpio and Dr. Gina Williams Addison two women who took very different paths have done immeasurable things for this disease and it's patients. I think that Kyle will find a lot more support and acceptance than he could imagine but Faith you have to let him find it and you have to let him find his own path. If someone like me can come out on the other side then a compassionate soul like your boyfriend surely can but you have to let him do it," Chris said.

Outside the room Dr. Alan Quartermaine wrapped his arms around his wife. "Well it looks like you were right years ago, Dr. Ramsey seems to have arrived," he said.

"Some people deserve second chances, closely monitored second chances but second chances none the less. I think that in a few years I will get to reiterate your words about Dr. Noah Drake," Monica said.

"You must be exhausted, I know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I understand that you've gone from cath lab to crashing patient to cath lab to crashing patient. What can I do to help you get out of here?"

"I'm going to talk to Chris about what he wants to do. I'd like to let him just manage this patient and do the ICU oversight. I'd also like to see him take on some ICU privileges but that's not going to happen for this patient. He's done the critical care fellowship in addition to toxicology there's really no reason he shouldn't have ICU credentials," Monica said.

"Well I think that assaulting the pulmonologist on call did set him back a little especially when he was already on probation. It was actually pretty remarkable that Dr. Thornhart not request he be removed from the program. I know you've always seen the good side of Chris and I think we've seen recently what you could see before but if Ian hadn't been so proactive about keeping him I don't think we could have," Alan said.

"Well yes but that was five years ago, and honestly with most of his patients being critically ill it would make sense for him to have privileges. I'd like us to make it a point to sit down with Dr. Ramsey officially in September and discuss him taking on additional credentials," Monica said.

"Fair enough, and four months away so back to the present what do I do to help you get home and get some rest?"

"Well I think if we can get everything wrapped up here I can sign out to Dr. Thornhart and pray that things will go well overnight. You could put in a central line if you would do that. That should save me twenty minutes at least. From what I understand from Epiphany, Scott Chandler is the health care power of attorney so you would need to talk to him about consent," Monica said.

"That I can do, and that makes things so much easier I was envisioning a conversation with Mr. Durant's half sister," Alan said smiling.

"Well sometimes you take the little miracles along the way that you're given Alan," Monica quipped.

"Oh indeed, oh indeed," Alan agreed.


	39. Chapter 38: More Than I Wanted to Know

_Has Sonny really moved on? Wow! Better question does Carly really want Jax or is there someone else from her past?_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 38: So Much More Than I Wanted to Know

Meanwhile Jason drove across town over to the house Carly was living in with the boys on Pine Boulevard. He knew he needed to come to some kind of resolution about things with Lulu. He was way too young to have a sixteen year old daughter, he needed to find Lulu somewhere to go before he really screwed things up for her. 

Arriving at Carly's house he knocked on the door unaware that his friend and the ever annoying Jasper Jacks were horizontal mamboing as his ex-girlfriend Sam would have referred to it on the living room floor. "Come in, the door is open," Carly had called not realizing that Jason not Sonny was knocking. Sonny had called earlier and said that he needed to come over and they needed to talk about something. Thinking he was going to suggest they reconcile Carly had invited Jax over.

Jason opened the door, screamed "What the h—l Carly!" before fleeing to the porch. Standing on the porch Jason fought back a wave of nausea and tried to compose himself.

"Crap" Carly said out loud. "Jase wait!" she jumped up shoving Jax off her and pulled down her dress before joining Jason on the porch.

"I'm sorry I thought you were Sonny," Carly said sheepishly.

"You wanted Sonny to walk in on that? I don't understand you sometimes, any way have a nice day," Jason said starting down the steps.

"Jase? Did you need something?" Carly asked concernedly.

"No, don't worry about it," Jason said.

"But I do worry about you," Carly said.

"You don't need to, I'm alright anyway you should get back to Jax I guess," Jason said faking a smile, anything to pave his escape.

"So we're ok?" Carly asked.

"We're fine, I'll just accept that this is one of those times that you had a plan and I don't really get it but you know in comparison to some of your other plans this is good. So carry on, just do me a favor and don't put on a show for Sonny," Jason said.

"He's probably coming over to try to convince me to give our marriage another try. Well he's just going to have to accept that Jax and I are back together," Carly said.

"Actually I don't think Sonny wants to get back together. I think he finally understands that you need to move on, so I think it will be ok. I mean you are always going to share your children but hopefully you can do that in a mature manner," Jason suggested.

"So did he tell you that?" Carly asked.

"Well not in exactly those words but I think he realizes that he needs to respect your space, and I think he's going to do that. So maybe give him a chance before you try to torment him. Just a thought," Jason said continuing down the steps and hopping onto his bike before Carly could say more.

But Jason hadn't needed to hurry, because his words had truly left Carly speechless. She sunk down to the porch floor, brought her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her knees. She felt Jax come up behind her and start to nibble on her ear. Conflicted and confused Carly wasn't sure what to do. She felt so much like she had just lost something important with Jason although she wasn't really sure what or how to get it back so she just kind of leaned back into Jax's embrace and let him lead her inside.

They had been halfway up the stairs when there was another knock on the door. Carly pulled away and went down to answer the door. Sonny stood on her porch holding a DVD.

"What's this?" Carly asked.

"Old Yeller, it came up this morning and I told Michael I would bring him a copy," Sonny explained handing her the video.

"This morning?" Carly questioned noting that Jax had come back downstairs as well.

"Michael and Morgan stopped over for breakfast, which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about," Sonny said.

"Why would they stop over for breakfast, I swear Sonny if you keep pulling this stuff I'll have my attorney file for sole custody," Carly threatened.

"Listen I'm not trying to interfere, Michael asked Max to bring them over for breakfast because they knew Kristina was there and they wanted to have breakfast with her. I don't want to fight about this I just wanted to talk about what's going on with Michael because he seems very angry about all of this so I was just thinking that we could,"

"That we could what? Get back together for Michael, nice try but no," Carly interrupted.

"If you would have let me finish, that wasn't what I was going to suggest. I was going to suggest that we try to be supportive and just remind them that we aren't together anymore but we both love them and that's never going to change. I was also going to suggest that I've talked to my attorney a lot and she thinks we could use a mediator and just file for court approval. That would probably be a lot easier on the boys too," Sonny suggested.

"You have got to be kidding me," Carly fumed.

"Listen I'm just worried about the boys. I really just want what is best for them," Sonny said.

"Well maybe you should have thought of that when you were sexing up Alexis and Sam. Just a thought," Carly said.

Sonny didn't say anything because he knew he would regret the words later. Carly had a point he had been unfaithful to her with Sam and Alexis both. He also supposed that at times he had allowed himself to be much more emotionally available to Brenda than he had to Carly. It was weird because a week ago he had thought that the best thing he could do for Michael and Morgan was to reconcile with Carly. But his recent conversations with Lois and his attorney Lauren Saylor had made him question that.

Sonny took a deep breath, "You're right, I made some mistakes," he finally said.

"Is that all you can say?" Carly asked.

"I'm sorry, we've both hurt each other way too much I agree, and I understand now that what Michael and Morgan need is us both loving them, us loving each other maybe just isn't a reality now. I'm really starting to see that. Why don't you think about what I've said and maybe we can sit down with Lauren Saylor and put something together," Sonny suggested.

"I thought we discussed this, I'm not interested in us sharing an attorney, especially not one of your mob mouthpieces," Carly fumed.

"Lauren doesn't have anything to do with any of my business ventures. She does family law and she's good. I didn't realize how good she was until recently," Sonny admitted.

"In bed? What is it about you and your attorneys Corinthos?" Jax said alluding to Kristina and making Sonny well aware of his presence in the room.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response Candyboy. Your wisest move would be to stay out of this. This is between Carly and I about our children," Sonny said.

"Those children will always give you your hook to Carly how convenient but I'm not going to stand by and watch you destroy her like you destroyed Brenda," Jax said pulling Carly possessively into his embrace.

"This isn't going to go anywhere good so I'm out. Carly give Lauren a call in the morning and let her know when is a good time to meet with the mediator," Sonny said. He set the DVD down on the coffee table and walked out of the house without another word.

"Grrr he just makes me so mad!" Carly raged after Sonny had left.

"So we fight him. We find a good attorney and we fight him," Jax suggested.

"I need to find someone from out of town, who isn't blind to Sonny's manipulations," Carly suggested.

"Exactly," Jax agreed. "I think I have the perfect attorney in mind," he said with an evil grin on his face.

"I like the sound of that," Carly said with a scheming smile.

"I like the sound of you happy," Jax said.  
Meanwhile Jason drove across town over to the house Carly was living in with the boys on Pine Boulevard. He knew he needed to come to some kind of resolution about things with Lulu. He was way too young to have a sixteen year old daughter, he needed to find Lulu somewhere to go before he really screwed things up for her.

Arriving at Carly's house he knocked on the door unaware that his friend and the ever annoying Jasper Jacks were horizontal mamboing as his ex-girlfriend Sam would have referred to it on the living room floor. "Come in, the door is open," Carly had called not realizing that Jason not Sonny was knocking. Sonny had called earlier and said that he needed to come over and they needed to talk about something. Thinking he was going to suggest they reconcile Carly had invited Jax over.

Jason opened the door, screamed "What the h—l Carly!" before fleeing to the porch. Standing on the porch Jason fought back a wave of nausea and tried to compose himself.

"Crap" Carly said out loud. "Jase wait!" she jumped up shoving Jax off her and pulled down her dress before joining Jason on the porch.

"I'm sorry I thought you were Sonny," Carly said sheepishly.

"You wanted Sonny to walk in on that? I don't understand you sometimes, any way have a nice day," Jason said starting down the steps.

"Jase? Did you need something?" Carly asked concernedly.

"No, don't worry about it," Jason said.

"But I do worry about you," Carly said.

"You don't need to, I'm alright anyway you should get back to Jax I guess," Jason said faking a smile, anything to pave his escape.

"So we're ok?" Carly asked.

"We're fine, I'll just accept that this is one of those times that you had a plan and I don't really get it but you know in comparison to some of your other plans this is good. So carry on, just do me a favor and don't put on a show for Sonny," Jason said.

"He's probably coming over to try to convince me to give our marriage another try. Well he's just going to have to accept that Jax and I are back together," Carly said.

"Actually I don't think Sonny wants to get back together. I think he finally understands that you need to move on, so I think it will be ok. I mean you are always going to share your children but hopefully you can do that in a mature manner," Jason suggested.

"So did he tell you that?" Carly asked.

"Well not in exactly those words but I think he realizes that he needs to respect your space, and I think he's going to do that. So maybe give him a chance before you try to torment him. Just a thought," Jason said continuing down the steps and hopping onto his bike before Carly could say more.

But Jason hadn't needed to hurry, because his words had truly left Carly speechless. She sunk down to the porch floor, brought her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her knees. She felt Jax come up behind her and start to nibble on her ear. Conflicted and confused Carly wasn't sure what to do. She felt so much like she had just lost something important with Jason although she wasn't really sure what or how to get it back so she just kind of leaned back into Jax's embrace and let him lead her inside.

They had been halfway up the stairs when there was another knock on the door. Carly pulled away and went down to answer the door. Sonny stood on her porch holding a DVD.

"What's this?" Carly asked.

"Old Yeller, it came up this morning and I told Michael I would bring him a copy," Sonny explained handing her the video.

"This morning?" Carly questioned noting that Jax had come back downstairs as well.

"Michael and Morgan stopped over for breakfast, which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about," Sonny said.

"Why would they stop over for breakfast, I swear Sonny if you keep pulling this stuff I'll have my attorney file for sole custody," Carly threatened.

"Listen I'm not trying to interfere, Michael asked Max to bring them over for breakfast because they knew Kristina was there and they wanted to have breakfast with her. I don't want to fight about this I just wanted to talk about what's going on with Michael because he seems very angry about all of this so I was just thinking that we could,"

"That we could what? Get back together for Michael, nice try but no," Carly interrupted.

"If you would have let me finish, that wasn't what I was going to suggest. I was going to suggest that we try to be supportive and just remind them that we aren't together anymore but we both love them and that's never going to change. I was also going to suggest that I've talked to my attorney a lot and she thinks we could use a mediator and just file for court approval. That would probably be a lot easier on the boys too," Sonny suggested.

"You have got to be kidding me," Carly fumed.

"Listen I'm just worried about the boys. I really just want what is best for them," Sonny said.

"Well maybe you should have thought of that when you were sexing up Alexis and Sam. Just a thought," Carly said.

Sonny didn't say anything because he knew he would regret the words later. Carly had a point he had been unfaithful to her with Sam and Alexis both. He also supposed that at times he had allowed himself to be much more emotionally available to Brenda than he had to Carly. It was weird because a week ago he had thought that the best thing he could do for Michael and Morgan was to reconcile with Carly. But his recent conversations with Lois and his attorney Lauren Saylor had made him question that.

Sonny took a deep breath, "You're right, I made some mistakes," he finally said.

"Is that all you can say?" Carly asked.

"I'm sorry, we've both hurt each other way too much I agree, and I understand now that what Michael and Morgan need is us both loving them, us loving each other maybe just isn't a reality now. I'm really starting to see that. Why don't you think about what I've said and maybe we can sit down with Lauren Saylor and put something together," Sonny suggested.

"I thought we discussed this, I'm not interested in us sharing an attorney, especially not one of your mob mouthpieces," Carly fumed.

"Lauren doesn't have anything to do with any of my business ventures. She does family law and she's good. I didn't realize how good she was until recently," Sonny admitted.

"In bed? What is it about you and your attorneys Corinthos?" Jax said alluding to Kristina and making Sonny well aware of his presence in the room.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response Candyboy. Your wisest move would be to stay out of this. This is between Carly and I about our children," Sonny said.

"Those children will always give you your hook to Carly how convenient but I'm not going to stand by and watch you destroy her like you destroyed Brenda," Jax said pulling Carly possessively into his embrace.

"This isn't going to go anywhere good so I'm out. Carly give Lauren a call in the morning and let her know when is a good time to meet with the mediator," Sonny said. He set the DVD down on the coffee table and walked out of the house without another word.

"Grrr he just makes me so mad!" Carly raged after Sonny had left.

"So we fight him. We find a good attorney and we fight him," Jax suggested.

"I need to find someone from out of town, who isn't blind to Sonny's manipulations," Carly suggested.

"Exactly," Jax agreed. "I think I have the perfect attorney in mind," he said with an evil grin on his face.

"I like the sound of that," Carly said with a scheming smile.

"I like the sound of you happy," Jax said.


	40. Chapter 39: Taking the Good and the Bad

_Mostly a light scene--can you imagine Edward Q at a track meet? Well maybe..._

_The last few paragraphs move the plot a little though and hint at the AJ & Keesha tension.   
_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 39:Taking the Good and the Bad

In Philadelphia at the Penn Relays Edward Quartermaine was truly in his element. The crowd was going crazy as the premier girls high school event of the relays the Distance Medley Relay lined up on the track. The announcer was talking about Coronado, a team from California and another New York team Colby Springs which held the national record for the distance medley relay. Edward realized that those teams were good but biased grandfather aside he was pretty confident that when it was all said and done Katelyn and her friends would prevail. After all Colby Springs had set their national record two years earlier and two of the girls on that team had graduated.

"Do you want me to film this so you don't miss anything?" he offered his granddaughter Nicole who was sitting on his lap.

"Kirk said when you film these things then all of your cheering gets into the video," Nicole explained innocently.

Edward didn't really have much to say to that, his grandson probably had a point. He was proud of Katelyn so sue him. But he decided to not say that aloud because in the year 2007 it was possible that someone would consider to sue him for just that.

The gun to start the race reverberated through the stadium. Sixteen pairs of legs sprang from the line into the first leg of the medley event which was 1200 meters or three laps around the track. Kortni Barnes was Port Charles' lead off runner. She had grown up a few houses up Lilac Drive from the Quartermaine estate and her father was an orthopedic surgeon at PCGH. Katelyn and Kortni had enough trivial commonalities to ensure at least a superficial friendship, but if Edward wasn't being mislead he believed the girl was actually one of Katelyn's best friends.

"Go Kortni!" Edward bellowed as the girls ran on. Kortni was a freshman and perhaps 4'10 at best but perhaps there were advantages to being tiny because it made it easier to weave through the chase pack Edward decided as he saw her come around after the second lap nicely tucked into the inside in about fifth or sixth place. Concentrating she followed the pack around the first turn, cut a tangent on the straightaway, extricated herself from the pack, cruised around the final turn and then launched a furious stretch run. Kortni extended the baton up and over her head to hand off to the 400m leg of the relay, junior Monique Jackson who was 5'10. Monique took the baton in fourth and tore out on her way to a sub-fifty six second lap around the track, moving their team into third.

Monique handed the baton to another freshman Hilllary Carter, who was new to Port Charles. Her father had moved his surgical practice to Port Charles, NY and was one of Alan's colleagues at the hospital. Alan had actually arranged the call schedule so Dr. Carter could be to Edward's left and up a row cheering his lungs out. Alan had mentioned that he had wanted to watch Katelyn's race but he had known that he was attending so he had taken the call for Dr. Carter. Edward had suspected that there was more going on and that it had something to do with why the Carters had relocated to Port Charles but he decided not to pry. Below them on the track Hillary moved their team up one more place into second and passed the baton to Katelyn for the 1600m anchor leg.

Nicole cheered proudly as her older sister skimmed along the track. Edward bellowed, and watched seconds tick by on his stopwatch. After two laps she had reached the halfway point in two minutes and twenty five seconds and she had cut Colby Springs' forty meter lead down to about fifteen meters. "That's it just keep plugging along!" Edward screamed.

As they came around to start the final lap Katelyn grabbed the lead and sprinted away for good as Edward, Nicole, and the rest of the Port Charles parents cheered. Coming down the final stretch she poured on her final burst of speed and broke the tape. She stepped off the track onto the infield where she joined Kortni, Hillary, and Monique.

"That was impressive, she negative split that whole race," Dr. Carter acknowledged.

"That's my sister!" Nicole said proudly, "She's fast".

"Yes, she is," Steve Carter agreed and then extended his hand to Edward, "I'm Steve Carter, I work with your son Alan at the hospital, in fact if Alan hadn't been so considerate I'd be there instead of here," he said.

"Yes Alan mentioned that seventy five percent of the relay team had fathers who were surgeons at PCGH," Edward said.

"Interesting how that works, and with those three being two freshmen and an eighth grader we'll probably all be hanging out at track meets for years to come," Dr. Carter remarked.

"Well as long Katelyn runs we'll definitely be here. I think their time actually breaks the meet record, and Port Charles' School record but they will be missing the national record by a little over a second according to my watch. Emily anchored Port Charles' school record back in 2001 when they won Penn Relays. Of course they didn't run the distance medley in the New York State Meet then so this year's team will actually have at least a few more chances at the national record" Edward informed his new friend.

"May we call Mom and give her the good news?" Nicole asked.

"I think that sounds like a great idea," Edward agreed pulling out his cell phone and hitting the speed dial button for the Quartermaine home.

Back in Port Charles, Emily Quartermaine reached for the cordless phone as she sat in the Jacuzzi on by their pool with her mother. With her father on call, Nicole and her grandfather in Philadelphia, and Kirk living on campus at PCU they were the only ones home and were enjoying a nice soak before dinner. "Good evening Quartermaine residence," Emily began.

"Well I have good news and bad news," Edward said.

"Let me guess the bad news is that our meet record is history but the good news is that Katelyn's team won the race and broke it," Emily suggested.

"You're very correct," Edward said.

"That's awesome congrats to Kate, may I talk to her?" Emily asked.

"Oh they're down doing their cool down the race literally finished less than ten minutes ago but Nicole wanted to call and tell you so I'll let you talk to her," Edward suggested passing the phone down to his granddaughter.

"Hi Nicole, I hear that you did an awesome job of cheering," Emily said smiling.

"Kate did a better job of running," Nicole said impishly.

"It sounds like she did really well, Brenda and I will have to watch the video when you get home tomorrow night," Emily said.

"Is Brenda going to be ok?" Nicole asked.

Emily hesitated a moment choosing words carefully especially in light of what had happened earlier in the day. Although she had actually looked a lot better when Emily had stopped back in after her ACLS test. She knew it was common to have electrolyte problems several days into refeeding and knew that her mother thought that was what it was. "She's feeling better, but she's going to have to stay in the hospital for a few more days at least. She was really happy that you taped Kate's race for her though and I think that maybe the four of us will have our own little party and watch it tomorrow night. That sounds like fun doesn't it?" Emily said.

"Yeah, I wish Brenda could come home though," Nicole said.

"I know me too, and hopefully she will be soon," Emily said.

"Yeah because she is going to be in your wedding right?" Nicole asked.

"I hope so, but that's not until June," Emily said.

"Well but it's May on Saturday," Nicole said.

"True, so I guess we really do have only a little over a month until the wedding, Patrick will have to get to work on writing his vows. Do you want to talk to Mom?"

"Yes" Nicole said and Emily passed the phone to her mother who listened as Nicole told her all about the race. Their grandfather promised he would have Katelyn call once they got back to the hotel after dinner and Monica put the phone back down.

"Tell me I wasn't lying to Nicole," Emily said.

"No, I think what you said was realistic maybe slightly optimistic though, I think a few days may be more like a week," Monica said.

"Yeah I was kind of afraid of that. I think things will be different this time though, Brenda really seems like she's getting somewhere. Plus I think Cruz is good for her," Emily admitted.

"He seems like a very honorable young man," Monica agreed.

"I think he is and he understands in a way that I don't think Jax ever did. I think maybe Sonny did too but Sonny had so many of his own issues," Emily said.

"Yes, and that can complicate things. Hopefully it won't for your brother and Keesha," Monica said sadly.

"You mean because AJ still has no idea that she's pregnant? She told me she was going to try to tell him last night but she wasn't able to," Emily said.

"I know, I'm worried because I still don't think they have finished grieving for the baby they lost and I think they're in different places in that grief," Monica said.

"Yeah I guess we just pray they come through this together," Emily said.

"I think that and being there is really all we can do," Monica agreed.  



	41. Chapter 40: Broken Noodles

_Lulu Spencer has not been SORAS'd in this work and also is trying to actually become a multidimensional character. We'll see how she does. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 40: Broken Noodles, Broken Promises

Jason parked his bike in the garage at Sunset Towers and started to the private elevator that went directly to the penthouse level. After leaving Carly's house he had gone riding to clear his head. He had eventually stopped by Liz and Lucky's apartment in the Tower Apartment Complex on Tower Road but no one had been home and he had decided that perhaps it would make more sense to try to catch Liz during one of her shifts at PCGH so he wouldn't run the risk of running into Lucky. 

Opening the door to the Penthouse he was greeted with the aroma of simmering tomato, basil, and oregano and he tried to remember if he had forgotten making plans for dinner with Sonny. As he stepped further into the living room he saw Spinelli lounging on the couch typing away on his laptop, Lulu came in from the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. "Oh good you're home because dinner could be served," she said smiling.

"You made dinner?" Jason asked with surprise.

"Yes, I can cook you know," Lulu said.

"Ok, I just well, well your cousin isn't exactly the cooking type," Jason offered.

"Carly? No but she orders take out well, it's actually a talent I think. I mean you wouldn't think that greek salad from Cheesecake Factory and fried rice from Peking Wong, and anchovie pizza from Fratelli's would be a good combination but well it actually was. Anyway I inherited my culinary genes from my mother's side of the family, or that is what Nikolas says," Lulu said.

"The prince cooks?" Jason was surprised. His cousin Emily had had her first crush on Lulu's half brother Nikolas Cassidine. Nikolas was four years older than Emily and two years ahead of her in school and initially he hadn't been very interested. Slowly they had become friends and although Jason didn't really like the guy he respected that he had helped Emily, Allison, Lucky, Liz, and Josh figure out who had affixed her face to another woman's naked body and posted those pictures on the internet. At the time Jason had been hurt that Emily and Allison hadn't come to him but Emily had felt that his priority had needed to be his son. All had eventually ended well with photographer Tom Yergin eventually being convicted. Shortly after that Emily and Nikolas had started dating but their relationship was complicated. At first Jason supposed that Emily had just been so happy to finally be dating the boy she had crushed on since she was twelve that she didn't see that Nikolas was controlling and wanted to mold her into his Cassidine princess rather than letting her grow into her own person. Ultimately Nikolas had disapproved of her decision to pursue the BS/MD program at Columbia University and although he had insisted he had wanted them to pursue a long distance relationship he had strayed with Gia Campbell while Emily had been away at school. Emily had forgiven him but then his uncle had arranged his marriage to heiress Lydia Karenin and Emily had realized that she really wasn't the person Nikolas wanted and she didn't want to turn herself into that. Things had gotten somewhat melodramatic on Niikolas' part but empowered Emily had moved on anyway.

"Well usually he has servants who do that, but he can cook. He used to make me French toast and all of the traditional Russian dishes," Lulu said having a brief happy memory.

"Well it smells good," Jason agreed.

"Oh this is actually a Bowen family recipe so perhaps you've had it before," Lulu said.

"Bowen?" Spinelli asked.

"Jason's cousin Emily was a Bowen before the Quartermaines adopted her. We're having broken noodles which was one of her mom's favorites," Lulu explained remembering the night that Emily had helped Lucky make dinner for her after he had moved into the apartment over Jason's old bike shop.

Jason also remembered Broken Noodles. It was what Emily had made the night that Alli had told him about her lymphoma diagnosis. It had been early January of 2001 and she had died within six months. Although he had never admitted it he realized that was probably the beginning of the dissolution of his relationship with Emily because he had never been able to understand why God had taken Alli or Emily's mother and left people like Sorrell, Mancusi, Alcazar, perhaps even himself. As the years went on the gulf widened and Jason really wasn't sure how to fix it anymore. Somewhere he had accepted that he couldn't but as he sat down to eat Broken Noodles he wondered if it was really too late or he was just afraid to try.

"The Noble one is adopted?" Spinelli asked as they started to eat.

"Emily's parents both died when she was little and her mom was friends with Monica and Monica promised to raise her as her own," Jason said.

"Really?" Spinelli questioned.

"Yes, really," Lulu said somewhat frustrated. She wasn't sure why Spinelli was frustrating her or maybe it was the fact that Emily Quartermaine could have a better relationship with a man and woman that weren't even related to her than she could have with her father.

"This is good Lulu," Jason said.

"Yes Fair Lulu you have certainly shown you are culinarily inclined. The Jackal is in ecstasy," Spinelli said.

Lulu looked down at her food blushing at the praise. She wondered if she tried to make Broken Noodles for Lucky if he would talk to her. She knew that he was still using. Nikolas and Elizabeth thought they were sparing her but it was beyond obvious. She was scared for her brother but she was as scared that she could understand why he did it. There was something almost empowering about not remembering and not feeling and although she had never done hard drugs and had promised herself she wouldn't she had been smoking pot for the past six months when things got hard. No one knew, or she didn't think they did. It wasn't even something she felt she could tell Spinelli.


	42. Chapter 41: Not What You Were Thinking!

_Jason really isn't ready to raise a teenage daughter or is he? _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 41: Not What You Were Thinking

The next morning, after dropping Lulu off at Port Charles High, Jason coursed up Main Street to Port Charles General Hospital. It was the first time he had driven a car in months. Usually he took his bike everywhere but somehow it didn't seem like the mode of transportation people used to drop off their sixteen year old daughters at school. Not that Lulu was his daughter but Jason figured he owed her as much normalcy and stability as he could provide. Of course that wasn't much and that was why he was going to talk to Elizabeth.

He went in the main entrance at the hospital and took the North Elevators to the fourth floor. The last time he had talked to Liz, roughly six months ago, she had mentioned that she had moved from med-surg to step down. Of course she had also mentioned that she hated it so he supposed she might have switched back. Of course Sonny had mentioned seeing her in the elevator the other day when he had been going to see Brenda so he was taking a chance that she was still in the 4North Step Down Unit.

"Oh hi Jason, if you were looking for Monica she just left for the cath lab five minutes ago or so," Liz said brightly as he stepped off the elevator.

"So I guess you did give up on Step Down," Jason joked.

"Oh no, not really, but well we had a bad day yesterday so Monica suggested that anyone who was involved in any of the three stepdown codes needed a day of regular med surg to get their nerves back or something like that. I guess that was nice but from what I understand all three patients survived so it's not as bad as it sometimes is," Liz said.

"Well that's good I guess," Jason said uncomfortably.

"Did you want me to page Monica for you?" Liz offered.

"We aren't going to bother Dr. Quartermaine while she's in the cath lab because her nephew doesn't realize that this is a hospital and she has more important things to do than be waiting to grace him with her presence," Epiphany Johnson retorted.

"Actually I wanted to talk to Elizabeth anyway Ms. Johnson," Jason said.

"Oh well I haven't gotten my breakfast break yet so why don't we go to the cafeteria just give me a minute to sign my patients over to Lori," Liz said.

"You can't sign your patients over to a student, Nurse Spencer, you know we never allow that in stepdown. Now I don't know what kind of ship Gladys is running here on the floor but since I just happen to be here I will tell you that the nursing board,"

"Lori is the charge nurse today, she's not a student. I think you might be confusing her with Leyla, the student. How you would do that I don't know but whatever," Liz said in exasperation crossing to the other side of the nurses station and speaking briefly with a dark haired nurse.

"Wow you stood up to Epiphany, I've never seen that before," Jason remarked once they were in the elevator.

"Well someone had to I guess. I'm kind of sick of her insinuating that I get special favors because my grandmother is the Director of Nursing. Whatever," Liz said still obviously mad.

"Some of her anger is probably directed at me anyway so sorry about that," Jason offered. But the elevator jarred a little and their arms brushed and Liz yelped and drew back in pain.

"Liz?" Jason asked with concern knowing that their actual contact had been minimal.

"Sorry I just have sensitive skin," Liz offered.

Jason didn't really believe that answer and instinctively he pushed up the sleeves of the long sleeved t-shirt she was wearing under her scrubs top. "What happened?" he asked looking at the bruises.

"I'm kind of clumsy, come on you have to know that by now," Liz tried to joke about that.

"I never had that impression before. Did Lucky do that?" Jason asked as the elevator doors opened.

"It was an accident, he didn't mean to," Liz offered.

But the shapes of the bruises appeared anything but accidental to Jason. It looked like someone had grabbed and pulled on her arm quite forcibly. "Tell me what happened," he asked.

"I don't really want to talk about it if you don't mind. Tell me about something else let me live vicariously through your joy," Liz suggested.

"My joy?"

"Well I figured you must have had some kind of good news if you were coming here. Did you finally propose to Brenda? I'm sure she said yes, I'm really happy for you," Liz said.

"Hold up. Brenda is in love with Cruz Rodriguez and he loves her and I'm working on being happy for them," Jason said.

"Awww, I'm sorry Jason. But have you ever told her how you feel?"

"Liz I'm not in love with Brenda. She's a good friend and I'll always care what happens but we're never going to be together that way," Jason explained.

"Ok so if you aren't marrying Brenda then what is it?"

"Well it's not exactly good news. Do you know my friend Spinelli?"

"The computer guy? Didn't he and Lulu work on a project last year?"

"They may have, he apparently graduated from Port Charles High in 2006. He definitely knew Lulu from school, anyway he showed up with her two nights ago at the penthouse," Jason offered.

"Why?"

"I guess she didn't think she had anywhere else to go. You know where Laura is, I guess Luke is somewhere unknown, and I guess that Lesley has had enough of raising Luke's wild child as she put it," Jason explained.

"She said that. I mean Lulu is Laura's daughter too," Liz said.

"Right, and maybe you'd have better luck with Lesley I think we were kind of done with the conversation before I got much further than Hello this is Jason Morgan. But she did make it clear that she felt it was time for Luke to raise his own kid. I guess Spinelli is trying to find him so that we can inform him of this."

"Wow! I feel like I should say that Lulu can stay with Lucky and I but well things aren't good Jason," Liz began.

"Right and Lulu wouldn't be safe there which raises the question are you and Cam?"

"You sound like your cousin." Liz retorted.

"Well lately I've been realizing she's right more than I give her credit for. If she suggested to you that maybe you and Cam needed to move out until Lucky could get things together I might have to agree," Jason said.

"I'm not leaving my husband, and I'm not taking his son away from him. Lucky is trying he went to a NA meeting last night and I think that things are going to get better but right now isn't a good time to bring more stress into the house. It's not fair to Lucky or to Lulu really. But what about Nikolas, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Well at least not until you find Luke or Lucky gets back on his feet," Liz suggested.

"Well apparently Nikolas is going to some seminar in California and his plane already left this morning. I was going to talk to Carly but she's having enough problems with the children who are actually hers that I don't think adding Lulu in there is a good idea. Ok well I guess she stays with us," Jason resigned himself.

"Is that ok?" Liz asked.

"It makes me uncomfortable honestly. I wouldn't have wanted Emily or Alli moving in with their boyfriend at sixteen," Jason said.

"Well they never needed to, maybe Lulu does. I wish I could be more helpful Jason but I'm not sure what I can do," Liz said.

"I know, I don't want to stress you out further. Can I buy you breakfast," Jason offered.

"I'm not really hungry I just needed to get away from Epiphany," Liz admitted.

"You need to take care of yourself too Liz. If you need anything please tell me, we've been friends for a long time and you've always been a good friend to Emily and Alli. You've been much better to Em than I have these past few years I'm sure," Jason said.

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that. Anyway thanks for what you're doing for Lulu. I know you'll help her as much as you can," Liz said,

"Of course, I mean there was a time when her father was a friend, and there was a time when her brother was Emily's friend so because of that I want to see things ok for Lulu. I just don't think I'm the best person to try to accomplish that. But I hope things get better for Lucky and then maybe he can be more involved in her life again," Jason suggested giving Liz a completely platonic hug.

"Well isn't this just great, and you called me a slut," Carly said haughtily coming around the corner with Jax at her heels.

"Oh come off it Carly, Jason and I are just friends. Don't tell me you've never hugged him in a public place. Yeah there always have to be two standards, one for the rest of the world and one for Carly Corinthos. Well I have to get back to work, it was nice talking to you Jason," Liz said pointedly before taking off through the hospital back towards the north entrance.

"You better not be getting back together with her Jason," Carly said.

"Liz and I have never been together Carly and honestly I just don't have the patience to go through this with you right now," Jason said debating if he should chase after Liz but he decided that they really didn't have anything more to say. He thought about visiting Brenda but he didn't really want to bring his bad mood to her. So he just walked towards the main lobby and front door.

Carly watched Jason leave in shock. Both of her last two conversations with him had ended with him walking away from him before she was ready to let him go. She was losing him she could feel it but she had no idea what to do to stop it.

"We should go upstairs we'll be late for our meeting with Dr. Winters," Jax said leading her towards the elevator. Jax had spent a lot of time last night planning the angle they should take in the custody battle with Sonny. He wanted to get Dr. Winters to testify about how Sonny had interferred with her treatment before hoping that could lead into Sonny's own mental issues and could be foreshadowing that he just wouldn't be able to make the right decision for his sons either. Jax was hoping that after he and Carly married she would give him a son of his own but for now he'd settle for taking Corinthos' sons away from him.

Carly fell into Jax's embrace as they went towards the elevator. She was impressed with how supportive he was being. Jason would never do this for her because when push came to shove she knew that Jason would have to choose Sonny over her. She hated that, she had tried to change it over the years but she feared that just pushed him further away. Which meant she probably should back off and she knew that but somehow she couldn't.


	43. Chapter 42: Making Progress?

_As mentioned in the first paragraph two weeks have passed between Chapter 41 & 42. _

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 42: Making Progress?

Scott Chandler sat typing away on his laptop reviewing some old cases and preparing for court. In the just over two weeks since Kyle had been admitted to PCGH he had done as much work as possible from Port Charles in general and the hospital specifically. It had been a long road for them all and realistically Scott knew that it would probably still be weeks before Kyle was strong enough to go home. Kyle had recovered mostly from the meningitis although he was still finishing up his Amphotericin course. Unfortunately the meningitis had been perhaps the tip of the iceberg because although the seizures stopped and the doctors were able to extubate he continued to be miserable and ill with continued fevers and drenching night sweats much of the time. Chris had admitted that the medicines they had started were likely a large explanation for his generalized malaise and perhaps the fevers were still from the Amphotericin. It was encouraging that his viral load was declining and his CD4 count had increased slightly so it seemed that even if making him miserable the medications were helping.

But as a friend perhaps the thing that Scott was most encouraged by was that during his lucid moments Kyle was both aware and he thought accepting that Faith knew the truth about his diagnosis and was allowing her to care and love him. Of course when the fever spiked to over 103 or after a perhaps Sustiva induced nightmare he would get confused and not recognize her, So Scott had tried to be around for those moments.

He saved the file and closed his laptop as he saw Faith appear in the doorway. She set two books down on the table and then sat down in the chair on the other side of Scott. "How's he doing?" she asked.

"It hasn't been the greatest day, he was having horrible abdominal pain which is probably just more cramping from the meds but Dr. Ramsey asked Dr. Quartermaine to stop by after he finishes up in the OR. What are the books?" Scott asked.

"Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, my new idea for those moments when he's just confused and miserable and I can't get through to him," Faith said.

"That's a good idea," Scott agreed.

"Well I was talking to Emily and she mentioned that they used to do that with the heme-onc kids during chemotherapy sometimes," Faith said.

"Distraction can be a really good coping strategy sometimes, my dad was really good at that when my mom was dying," Scott agreed.

"Well hopefully Kyle will continue to get better," Faith said.

"I think he will, it's just going to take a long time. I wish I'd realized how bad things were and helped him get help sooner," Scott admitted.

"You wish, I saw him every day and I knew something wasn't right not just because he was pulling away but he looked ill. I tried to get him to go to the doctor a few times but he always argued that he was fine, and I didn't want him to not be. But he was sick, I totally see that now, I mean he was losing weight and he seemed to struggle to do simple things," Faith admitted.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"Last year he coached the rec basketball team at Ward House and he loved it and had clinics for the kids after the season ended. This year he seemed to almost be glad that they didn't get past the county tournament so the season could be over. We used to play tennis and I hadn't been able to get him to do that for awhile, and the health club even has indoor courts. Or like if we went to the mall or even just walking around he'd seem to breathe heavy. Plus I bet that a lot of the times he canceled plans because he had to do things for work he was really just lying in bed with a fever which is sad," Faith said.

"Yeah it is, I'm glad that he's letting you in now, I know it's still hard when he's confused but I don't think that's a reflection on you, it's just being sick," Scott said.

"I try to believe that it's just hard because I just want to hold him and comfort him but I know sometimes when he's feeling that way it isn't comforting. I wish his mom was still here because he asks for her then and I know he doesn't understand that she isn't here," Faith said.

"Yeah," Scott agreed and as Kyle cried out in pain. Scott looked over at his friend who's hair and gown were again drenched with sweat and he was starting to shiver.

Scott stood and laid a gentle hand on his friend's forehead smoothing some hair back from his face. "You're going to be ok Kyle, just relax and try to ride this out," he said.

As had happened before Kyle looked practically through Faith and screamed. Scott wasn't sure why that upset him. "Ok this is a moment when I'm not helping I guess, I'm going to go tell the nurse that he needs some more Tylenol and give you guys a few minutes," Faith offered.

"You're ok, everyone in this room loves you. But I know that things are a little fuzzy now right, but if you just hold onto my hand we'll do ok," Scott said in his most soothing voice.

"I hurt," Kyle whined.

"Where does it hurt? Your stomach still?"

"I feel sick," Kyle said.

"I know but you're in a hospital and we're helping you just relax and take some nice breaths. Here let's get you out of this wet gown," Scott offered. Removing the dirty gown and helping him into a clean one.

"Here is a clean sheet, is he spiking again?" Liz asked as she came in.

"I think so, he's breathing quickly again like he does, and he's not completely making sense," Scott said going to wet a washcloth at the sink.

Liz removed the thermometer from his ear, "Yeah 104.3, that can't feel good," she said.

"No I'm sure it doesn't," Scott said returning to the bed with the damp wash cloth and gently wiping his face and neck. Kyle moaned and clutched at his stomach panting.

"Do you need anything else? Well besides like for this to all magically go away," Liz asked.

"Yeah that, but I think we're good, I think he's just cramping from the meds," Scott said as he positioned a spare pillow under his friend's knees. "We're hoping that gets better with time, it's supposed to. Rubbing his stomach seems to help a little," Scott said making some expanding circles with gentle pressure.

"You're a very good friend, just hit the call light if you need anything," Liz said turning and leaving the room. 

Scott continued to rub gently and Kyle drifted off to sleep as Faith returned and cautiously took his hand. He didn't flinch merely took a slightly deeper relaxed breath as if her touch was comforting. "See I think you two will get there. I think when Kyle gets really feverish he goes back to the primitive familiar and perhaps you just haven't known each other quite long enough," Scott suggested.

"I hope so, I really love him. It's not pity I know he thinks it is, see I really think he's going to have his life back and it will be ok," Faith said.

"I think you have to keep believing that. I didn't get lunch so I was going to go grab something can I bring you anything?" Scott offered.

"No I had lunch not long before I came. We had another details meeting and well it ran over as usual so eventually after it had spilled past lunch we finally ordered in," Faith said with a laugh.

"Been there and done that a few times. Well I'll bring my cell so if anything changes and Kyle needs me just call," Scott offered.

"I think we'll be ok. But you're right you should get out you really haven't done much but sit this bedside vigil since I met you and I appreciate what an amazing friend you are but I also know that you're going to burn out so why don't you take even if it's just thirty minutes to just be outside," Faith suggested.

"Well I wasn't around much this weekend," Scott suggested.

"Yeah because you moved your apartment from Albany to Port Charles this weekend. When Kyle is better I think he will really be glad you've moved here and I look forward to meeting Erika since I understand she will be taking a research position at ELQ Pharmaceuticals," Faith said.

"She's like a month away from defense so she's kind of been locked in the lab but I've heard that Port Charles is beautiful in the summer and I think we'll all have a good summer," Scott said getting up from the chair.

He ventured out of the room to the nurse's station where Liz was charting. "I think he's asleep again and Faith is there so I'm going to grab some food. May I bring you anything?"

"Where are you going?" Liz asked intently.

"Well I was actually thinking about that deli over on Sunset Avenue," Scott said.

"Oh by Corinthos-Morgan and Borders. Well if you're going all the way over there I would love a vanilla mocha frappucino from Corinthos-Morgan. Hold on a second and let me grab my purse," Liz said.

"It's on me," Scott said walking away before she could protest.


	44. Chapter 43: Sharing Secrets

For the Love of Family

Chapter 43: Sharing Secrets

Meanwhile, across town Carly was sitting in Corinthos-Morgan Coffee House waiting for Jason. Max had promised her that Jason was coming by to see Sonny and she was desperate to talk to him. She and Jax had taken the boys to Disney World for the past ten days. It had been Jax's idea that they get away from Port Charles to tell the boys that she and Sonny were splitting for good and that they would be moving in with Jax at the end of the school year. Michael hadn't taken it well and Sonny had complained that they should have told them together and that it hadn't made sense for the boys to miss more than a week of school. To annoy Carly further her mother had actually taken his side. So with everyone mad at her she needed an ally and she knew that would be Jason; she just needed to convince him of that.

So she sat sipping a mocha latte and watching the door for his arrival. At the next table over there were a bunch of giggling girls, probably college students from PCU she supposed. Although that seemed odd since Port Charles University was actually on the outskirts of Port Charles and part of the campus was technically in the town of Shepperd so it seemed odd that they would come all the way over to Corinthos-Morgan for coffee. The door opened and Carly looked up looking for Jason but instead a tall muscular man with light brown hair and green eyes came through the door and headed to the counter where he ordered his beverage. Carly was intrigued he was attractive sort of like a more rugged version of Jax and she entertained herself watching him until he left the shop with a beverage in hand. 

Apparently the giggling college girls also found him attractive because they were commenting on his hotness after the door swung shut. "Well he may be hot but he's also gay," one of the voices rose distinctively over the admiring chants.

"Really? Are you sure Leyla?" another of the girls asked.

"Yes, his lover has been admitted at PCGH he has AIDs," Leyla said.

"Really? I wonder if Mr. Hottie does too," a different girl asked.

"Well I'm not sure about that but they certainly looked very close. It makes me sick to see them but it's almost romantic too I guess if you're into that kind of stuff. Which of course I'm not," Leyla crooned.

"Who is his lover?"

"Well I really shouldn't say but ok it's actually Kyle Durant," Leyla said.

Carly had been listening to their conversation because eavesdropping was her habit. But at the mention of her half brother's name she practically stared.

"Who is that? Is he like an entertainer or something?" the original girl asked.

"I think he was in that movie about the Apes, I'm not really sure about that, anyway you can't tell anyone because this kind of stuff is supposed to be confidential. Like I could get in trouble if anyone found out I told you," Leyla said.

"Oh yes of course we won't say anything," the girls all promised.

Carly took a moment to reflect on what she had just heard. Her half brother was gay? He had AIDs? Exactly when was he planning on sharing any of this with her? Forgetting all about her plan to meet with Jason she jumped up from the table and summoned Milo to take her to PCGH.


	45. Chapter 44: Acting on Impulse

_Where would we be without Cyclone Carly Corinthos weighing in with her perspectives on the situation?_

* * *

For the Love of Family

Chapter 44: Acting on Impulse

Back in Kyle's hospital room Scott had returned to reviewing for his case. Faith had needed to leave to meet her cousin Keesha. Hearing a moan he turned his eyes back to his friend who had opened his eyes again but from the glassy look he had Scott could tell he wasn't really himself again.

"My tummy hurts," Kyle whined.

"I know, I'm right here ok and I'm going to rub you're tummy. Does that feel a little better?" Scott said realizing he sounded like he was talking to a five year old.

"I feel weak."

"Yeah but that's ok because you can just rest, just lie back and think about a nice peaceful day," Scott said wiping his face and neck again.

"What's wrong? I feel sick and hot really hot,"

"Yeah, you're running a fever but it's ok, just lie here and rest. You're going to feel better and you're not alone," Scott promised.

Kyle's eyes had started to drift closed again and Scott figured he'd be back to sleep in a few minutes, well until the cyclone blew through.

"What do you think you're doing?" came a shrill scream from the doorway. Kyle's eyes snapped open in alarm and Scott turned to see Kyle's half sister Carly Corinthos standing in the doorway.

"Carly, please don't scream, we're trying to be calm so your brother can go back to sleep," Scott said.

"Like h—l, what are you doing?" she asked coming closer to them.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"People like you are just sick taking advantage of him like this or maybe he likes it I don't know but my boys will not be exposed to this filth," Carly fumed.

"Stop screaming, he's in a lot of pain with a high fever and you're just making things worse. " Scott said starting to stand to direct her from the room. As he pulled his hand away Kyle winced and then started crying. Instinctively Scott stroked his head, "Hey it's ok, you're ok, just take some nice deep breaths,"

"I'm sorry," Kyle wailed.

"Yeah you should be, carrying on like this. You're twenty seven not seven you don't need someone rubbing your stomach or whatever he was doing," Carly said.

"I think you should leave Carly," Scott said.

"Not a chance, someone has to keep Kyle from dragging down the family name, perhaps you should leave," Carly insisted.

"I'm sick," Kyle panted.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Corinthos but you're going to need to step out so I can examine your brother," Dr. Alan Quartermaine said from the doorway. He walked past her into the room.

"Why does he get to stay?" Carly asked.

"Because he's not upsetting him right now and he's the power of attorney," Alan said.

After Carly had flounced out, Scott turned to Alan, "Thank you."

"It's not a problem," Alan said picking up his stethoscope and working through the exam.

He frowned as he palpated the abdomen, noting the marked tenderness in the right lower quadrant. "He's really tender which we don't commonly see with just cramping. We should get a CT but I'm worried he may have an acute abdomen," Alan said.

"So he would need surgery?"

"In most cases yes," Alan agreed.

Scott tensed at those words. "Do you think he's in shape for that?" he asked uneasily.

"Well no, but if he's got something acute then it may be a situation where we do surgery or he doesn't make it so that changes things. Listen let's get the CT and see what that shows. We can discuss this after we've done that."

After they had taken Kyle down for the CT Scott dropped his head down into his hands for a moment and prayed. He heard the commotion in the hallway and poked his head out to see Carly and Liz arguing.

"Your brother isn't even in the room Mrs. Corinthos, he went down for a test," Liz said using her upmost restraint.

"But he's my brother and I should be the one making the decisions about what happens," Carly insisted.

"Your brother filled out paperwork designating a medical power of attorney in case he wasn't able to make his own decisions. He didn't list you as that person. We really can't give you anymore information about his condition. Now you need to calm down because you're disrupting other patients as well," Liz said.

"I'm not going anywhere," Carly insisted bursting through the door.

Scott watched Carly lean back against the wall still looking extrememly ticked. He could sort of understand her feeling that she had been shut out. But at the same time he knew Carly and Kyle were not close and he had witnessed the way she had torn into him at their father's funeral. Kyle had told him that she was grieving and upset and Scott knew that Kyle had become rather close to Carly's sons in the months that had followed. Given everything he knew he didn't think it was his place to tell Carly about Kyle's diagnosis, although from the words that had come from her mouth he wondered if she knew. How she knew he wasn't sure and he really hoped that Kyle's personal life wasn't going to be spewed on the front page of the Port Charles Herald. So they sat and stood in silence waiting for Kyle to come back.

After fifteen minutes Liz came back, "Dr. Quartermaine is on the phone he's down in radiology looking at the CT and he needs to talk to you," Liz said.

Carly started to charge for the phone but Liz held it from her grasp and handed it to Scott who listened as Dr. Quartermaine explained that it looked like an acute appendicitis. They would need to operate. Reluctantly Scott consented and handed the phone back to Liz to witness that. Liz hung up the phone. "Dr. Quartermaine also said they would bring a consent up for you to sign," she said looking at Scott.

"Ok this has gone on long enough, my mother is the nurse director of the OR and I'm calling her," Carly fumed.

"Actually we already called her Mrs. Corinthos and she's on her way. I thought you might need a ride home," Liz said sweetly.

Carly was ready to throttle Miss Muffin Face. How dare she talk to her like that, plus although her last name still technically was Corinthos as she and Sonny hadn't finalized their third divorce she knew that Liz was calling her that to goad her. "Now let's get one thing straight right now Miss Muffin Face," Carly said geting into Liz's face and wagging a finger.

Just then Bobbie Spencer arrived on the unit. "Carly what are you doing?"

"Just trying to get some information about my brother, Miss Muffin Face here seems to think I don't deserve to know," Carly said.

"What are you talking about Carly? Lucas is fine, in fact he's waiting in the car. we just came from his road test," Bobbie said.

"You're forgetting I have two brothers. My straight brother Lucas and my gay brother Kyle," Carly said.

Bobbie's jaw dropped at her daughter's revelation. She had never known that Kyle was gay, although it was also the first time that she had heard Carly refer to him as a brother. Technically Kyle was her half brother as they shared the same father in John Durant. Of course, Bobbie realized, Lucas was also her half brother because they shared the same mother or at least from an adoptive standpoint.

"You know what forget it! If Kyle wants to carry on like this then screw him! Let's go mother," Carly burst out heading for the hallway to take her to the elevator. Bobbie hesitiated a moment. before following her daughter.

"What just happened?" Scott asked after they had left.

"I'm not really sure, I'm guessing that Carly somehow discovered Kyle's problems and jumped to the incorrect conclusion that meant he was gay. It's ignorant but well this is Carly we're talking about," Liz said.

"But he isn't, not that if he was it would be worthy of condemnation but Kyle likes girls and loves Faith," Scott said.

"Yes but he has a disease that closed minded people think only affects gay men. It feeds their denial that they couldn't possibly be affected," Liz said.

"Which is really wise since the group with the most new cases of HIV are heterosexual women," Scott said.

"Hey as my Grandfather would have said you're preaching to the choir. I'm not Carly Corinthos," Liz said.

"I'm sorry I just get really frustrated by the ignorance and insensitivity sometimes," Scott said. "But more importantly how do you think that Carly found out about Kyle's diagnosis?" Scott asked.

"Well her mom does work here," Liz suggested.

"Her mother has no medical reason to need to know, and even if she did telling her daughter majorly violates not only HIPPA but some of the privacy sanctions in this state," Scott said.

"For what it's worth I don't really think Bobbie would say anything. But maybe she thought that since Carly was his sister I don't know," Liz said.

"Kyle went through this before and it nearly destroyed him. Personally I think we need to get to a point where saying someone has AIDS doesn't evoke different sentiments than saying someone has cancer but I know we aren't there yet. I am not going to let him go through what he went through before here,' Scott said adamantly.


End file.
